Your Equal
by mermaidstear
Summary: A woman who works with SHIELD finds Loki after the Bifrost is destroyed. Once he decides to take over when Thor returns and the Avengers have to stop him, what will happen? Set in Avengers. Loki/OC/Steve
1. Chapter 1

**This is just an intro chapter. This story was originally on the Thor page (so I kind of catered to those fans but luckily, now there's an Avengers board) and I plan on fixing some of beginning chapters over time. I know they're not the best, haha. And obviously, most of this was written long before the Avengers movie came out so for the most part it's not very close at all and it probably never will be, haha. I really apologize for any inconsistencies and like I said, hopefully I'm gonna get around to making the earlier chapters much better than what they are now. I don't own anything except my character, Charlotte.**

The Bifrost had crumbled and Loki thought for certain that he was dead. He looked around, confused, as he realized that he was on ground. Where was he? His eyes fixed on a figure running toward him. Midgard, this is where he was. Of course, he was destined to fall here. Thor would be coming back here though, as soon as another Bifrost was created. He wanted that woman, Jane. Loki would deal with him then.

The figure arrived in front of him and had long auburn hair. Loki was immediately jealous of it. It was a girl or a woman, really. She had an innocence about her that made it difficult for him to decipher her age. She had huge green eyes, the same color as his. Her big eyes combined with her wild hair and short frame made her appear bird-like and terribly young.

"Are you okay?" she asked, bending down near him since he had yet to move. He nodded. The girl had an accent different from his own and different from Jane's, he was certain. Her lips were pouty and it looked like she had trouble ever actually having them touch. It annoyed him how imperfect she was compared to any of the maidens he'd known in Asgard. Her teeth were crooked. He winced. She wasn't at all ugly by human standards, he was certain, but she wasn't on the same level as Sif or his mother. Well, she wasn't actually his mother, was she? He snapped back to the girl.

"I am fine," he responded, although he really wasn't. The girl pressed her lips together, surprising Loki. He had thought they were too plump to touch. She moved towards him again, clearly not believing him when he said he was fine, and her hair fell into her face. She fought to push it away from her eyes and he almost glowered. The one perfect thing about this girl was her hair.

"Do you know Thor?" she asked next. Loki openly grimaced at the newest mention of Thor. Her accent was really grating on him now but other than the accent, she spoke well. And she knew Thor?

"Yes, how do you know him?" Loki asked her. His voice came out as a groan, not as the usual melody it had. This fall had injured him and the girl knew it.

"I know Jane," she responded. Her eyes were so large and innocent, Loki wasn't sure the girl comprehended who he was or even what Thor had been.

"Do you know who I am?" She smiled down at him in an almost mischievous way. Her hand moved to touch his stomach that he'd been unconsciously guarding.

"I'm pretty sure I do," she said, looking down at his midsection as if she could see through his armor. "Now lemme take you away from out here. S.H.I.E.L.D. is monitoring this area for stuff exactly like this ever since they learned about where Thor came from. Please come with me. I won't hurt you." After hearing her accent a bit longer, it was sort of endearing. But she was stupid if she thought she could hurt Loki or that Loki was even frightened of her. This girl had no idea who he was after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hopefully, this will start getting pretty good. I apologize for any inconsistencies in anything. It's been a pretty long day for me and I am fried. I don't own anything other than Charlotte and speaking of her, this is her POV chapter.**

I walked with the man to my Jeep. I loved my Jeep Cherokee. It was perfect for the terrain out here in New Mexico. I consciously knew the man I was helping was Loki. It was evident by the way he was dressed and the way he looked at me full of disdain. Jane had mentioned that Thor said Loki had been on a downhill spiral of sibling jealousy he'd had his whole life. Or maybe she'd just figured that out based on the few things Thor had said about him. Whatever the case, I believed he was bitter.

I noticed how tall he was once he'd stood up. He couldn't stand up fully for long. I'd noticed him protecting his abdomen and the minute he looked like he might succumb to the pain, I slid under his arm to hold him up. Even draped over me, he completely engulfed my frame. Maybe telling him that I wasn't going to hurt him was completely off base. I had also noticed that our eyes were the same color since he was constantly glaring at me for helping him.

"Let me be," he demanded. I shook my head. He wasn't terribly injured but he did need help.

He was really good looking, I hated to admit. Even though I knew Thor had been gorgeous, I didn't want someone who was such a jerk to be that attractive. He was extremely pale and I wondered if that was because of the fall. "Do you know what a car is?" I asked him as we neared my Jeep.

He looked down at me like I was clearly the foreign one here. "I know enough," he retorted. Deep down, I knew he didn't actually know how a car worked or how to decipher anything here, he was just trying to save face. But I let him.

"Well, let me help you get in and we can go back to my house." As if what I lived in could actually be considered a house. S.H.I.E.L.D. was paying for my accommodations though and I did appreciate that. My menial government salary wouldn't have gotten me much more than that anyway.

"Why do you speak the way you do?" he demanded, as I helped him into the passenger's seat. I noticed that he was sitting completely straight in the seat, perfect posture. Yes, this was definitely Loki.

He looked around confused so I reached to grab the seatbelt that he so obviously didn't "know enough" about while I responded with, "I speak the way I do because I'm from the South. I'm not from around here and neither are you so if we're talking about funny accents, we need to go on and mention yours." He had flinched away from me while I was trying to buckle him in, obviously not wanting to be touched. I shrugged and shut the door. I went to the other side and got in the driver's seat, starting the Jeep. "I'm gonna go on and warn you. I'm a terrible driver."

Loki still looked confused and he was flashing his green eyes dangerously in my direction. "You said you know who I am." I smiled. He was clearly uncomfortable with me knowing this much about him while he knew nothing about me.

"I do. You're Loki, Thor's brother." I saw him breathe a little harsher, obviously uncomfortable, and I kept my eyes focused on the dirt road back into Puente Antiguo. "My name is Charlotte Kent, if you were curious."

"I was. Why did you take me from the… desert?" Loki was clearly trying to remember things about here that Thor had told him. He was catching on quickly.

"I told you, there are people looking for things in that area ever since stuff happened with Thor. The agency I work for is the main one looking for things." I hadn't been here when things with Thor had happened and of course, neither had S.H.I.E.L.D. An agent was out here and had us come immediately once weird things about Thor were known. As I understood it, he went back into Asgard maybe two days ago. We had been moved here the day he left, allowing time for an office to get set up and for me to get moved into the hovel that was now my house for I don't know how long.

"Are they looking for Thor?" Loki gave me a genuine look and I nodded. "The way to get here is broken. He cannot come back and I cannot leave until they fix it." I noticed he was trying to say things in a way that I would understand them and I appreciated it.

"Jane is already working on a way to reach Asgard. She's doing it because she 'loves' Thor, of course, but S.H.E.I.L.D. is using her to get Thor, I know it. They have preconceived notions about you from her so that's why I got you out of there as fast as possible." He raised his eyebrows. "They think you're the bad brother and that you're the one who sent that… that Destroyer?" He nodded. "Yeah, they think you're the one who sent the Destroyer to hurt Thor and everyone here. I just thought you were misunderstood maybe and if you're not, please let me know, but I just didn't want you to get caught up in stuff with them and have them ask you questions you can't answer. I'm sorry I'm just rambling." I laughed a little at how awkward I was being but it was the truth. As soon as I had officially moved into my makeshift home, I started keeping tabs on where Thor had come through because of all the agents at S.H.I.E.L.D., I was the one who lived closest to the desert where he had fallen. My plan had been to snag him and inform him of what would happen with S.H.I.E.L.D. although quite honestly I didn't know how to brief him on becoming an Avenger. I just figured he'd need a heads up… and that I could possibly get a raise for being the one to find him. I hadn't expected Loki but I knew the possibility was there for others from Asgard to pass through.

"I am somewhat misunderstood," he said, bringing me back down to the conversation. I do that a lot, get stuck in random thoughts. I didn't know whether he was lying, after all, he's the trickster god but he had nowhere else to go and if he had wanted to harm me, he could've done so already, whether he was hurt or not.

I pulled up to my house and grimaced. As I mentioned, the thing was small and I had barely had the time to unpack my boxes in the three days I'd been here. "This is quite a small place," remarked Loki as he came inside. He was obviously above being here. I saw him eyeing my keys strangely and I figured he didn't know what they were. It was certainly going to be fun having him around.

"That it is but I haven't been here very long and I guess I'll be here longer than I thought since you said Thor can't come through right now. But you can make yourself comfortable! I hope you aren't expecting a feast or anything because I certainly can't cook." He smirked a little. I didn't know if it was because he thought I was funny or if he hated me.

"You mean that no one cooks for you?" I was a little baffled. Of course, no one cooked for me and I had a sneaking suspicion that no one would cook for me in Asgard either. I'm not on the richer end of the scale.

"No," I said, laughing a little. "And I don't really cook because my job works me to death. Even when I'm home, they have me working on ridiculous amounts of files."

"Do you work for this… S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he asked cautiously, clearly trying to gauge whose side I was really on.

"I do," I responded. "I'm basically a researcher. I can work well with the computers and find people. I keep files on- on agents that work there too." I had almost slipped and said Avengers. Loki didn't need to know who they were, especially if he had been lying about being misunderstood. "And speaking of my job, I have to work early in the morning. Do not and I repeat, do not leave this shack of a house while I'm gone. We need to get you some clothes before we can let you just waltz around town. Thor and his friends were only here two days ago." Loki nodded.

"I understand," he said in that melodic voice that he had. "Why are you worried about S.H.I.E.L.D. talking to me and asking me questions?" He was tracing his long fingers around my two-person table that served as my dining room, even though it could count as the living room. He looked healthier already.

"I told you, they think you're a bad person. They'll lock you up. Or they'll just drill for information on Thor; information you may not want to give up and they have ways of making you tell." I thought of Clint and Natasha and all of the things they could do combined. It was terrifying. Quite a few times have I considered working for S.H.I.E.L.D. to be a bad job decision on my part.

He smiled at me, his teeth gleaming. It embarrassed me to know that he had to have seen my somewhat crooked teeth. "I thought you knew who I was. They cannot make me tell them anything." The way he said it was really frightening and I instinctively moved away from him. I was trying to be the Good Samaritan here but apparently, I'd helped the wrong person.

"I understand that but for my peace of mind, please don't go out tomorrow." He seemed skeptical at first but then he nodded, wanting to appease me. Maybe he was too weak to go out anyway. Jane had made me think it was impossible to really get along with or trust Loki and of course, I didn't fully trust him but he clearly wasn't all bad. "I, uh, I totally forgot that this is a one bedroom house. I guess you deserve the actual bed since you fell from the sky today. I'll take the couch." I figured he needed the rest but at the end of the day, so did I. My job had been increasingly tough on me and I knew there were some files I hadn't finished before I went and found Loki but sleeping was sounding better every minute. I was tempted to ask whether it would bother Loki to share the queen sized bed with me. I would stay on my side. No, no, no, he deserved the whole bed. Besides, he was used to things so much nicer than this place. The least I could do was offer him that fantastic bed.

"Where is it then?" He was looking me right in the eyes and it was really creepy considering we had the same colored eyes. His skin was perfect.

"Uh, it's in the back room. I'll help you." He jerked back when I made to touch his arm so I backed off. "We can take turns with the bed 'cause I suppose you'll be here awhile." This god needed some ground rules. He seemed to be thinking on it and he nodded, seeing that I wasn't backing down.

"Of course," Loki responded. He turned and attempted walking towards the bedroom without me even giving him directions there. I knew the house was small but the way he'd automatically figured out the interior was weird. I followed him to make sure he made it there and I unconsciously began picking up my clothes that were already strewn everywhere.

"Can I do anything to help your chest?" I offered. Loki gave me a withering glare. He didn't want my help.

"I will heal soon enough." I backed off, closing the bedroom door behind me.

I hadn't even gotten to change into pajamas. I sat on my worn couch and laid down under a blanket. I wondered for a split second what type of people had actually worn in this couch and I stopped myself. Either I or Loki was going to be sleeping on it for awhile.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up, I turned and crawled off of my couch. My phone said that it was ten minutes until 7. That gave me enough time to try to look presentable and get a coffee for Phil Coulson because I never finished those files last night. Phil wasn't my official boss but he was one of the main reasons I'd gotten my job at all and I figured impressing him was the best way to keep it.

I went to the bathroom and attempted to brush my thick curly hair. I was going to have to put it up, as much as I hated it. I waltzed into my room to find some appropriate work clothes and saw Loki sprawled out in my bed. I had forgotten I might wake him when I came in.

I had thought it many times already but wow, Loki really looked good. I tiptoed to my closet and pulled out a pencil skirt and a blouse. I loved the look of office clothes but they were by no means comfortable. I put the clothes on my dresser while I looked in the mirror to pull my hair back. As I was putting it up, I heard something.

"Leave it down," I heard someone say. I turned, a little startled and saw Loki looking at me from the bed. I dropped my hair. He smiled. "It looks better that way."

"I'm glad someone likes my hair. It's such a mess," I said back, this time trying to apply the little make up I had. "Well, I should be back around 6 tonight, maybe earlier if I can snag it and then we can get you some clothes."

"Thank you for this," he said genuinely. I was a little taken aback at how kind he was being. Originally, he had seemed to really think of me as less than him but hey, that could change. He knows he's stuck here for awhile and I've been nothing but nice.

"You're certainly welcome," I replied. I grabbed the files I hadn't finished and my purse and headed to my Jeep. I needed to get some coffee for Phil. It just so happened that Starbucks was on the way to my building so I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, this cup of java would be enough so that I didn't have to make up some excuse as to why I didn't finish those files. Still, maybe coming up with an excuse was a good idea as a back up plan.

I got the coffee and parked my Jeep in front of the tall office building. I walked in and got on the elevator. Then I saw Tony Stark approaching the elevator. I quickly maneuvered myself to hit the "close doors" button. I was not in the mood for him this morning. I hit the button three times but he caught the door anyway. I mentally screamed. He was so irritating.

"I saw that," he said as he moved to stand right beside me, not offering me much personal space. I rolled my eyes a bit. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you don't wanna see me." I faked a smile.

"When don't I want to see you?" I responded quietly.

"What's the coffee for? Coulson? You're being slack again, Charlotte?" I turned and I glared at him. All of the Avengers knew how completely overworked I am but Tony is the only one who ever actually crucified me over not finishing something at home.

"I don't think that's any of your business." I turned and looked at the numbers slowly ticking on the screen above the buttons. The elevator was taking a long time today.

"I bet you… let's say, 20 bucks that you'll trip on something and fall today."

"You mean, that you'll get Clint to trip me as soon as I get off the elevator? Tony, I didn't know you were so desperate for cash." As a matter of fact, I did fall every now and then at work. Office buildings have terribly smooth carpets and none of the heels I owned had much traction. It was maybe a once a week thing.

"Oh, today's gonna be the day." I rolled my eyes and got off the elevator. Today sure as hell wasn't going to be the day because I needed to-

Next thing I knew, I was on the floor, Phil's coffee spilled on the carpet. This fall had hurt me too, I could already tell that my hip was going to act up after this. "Told ya," said Tony. I bit my lower lip and pushed myself up. Luckily, the coffee hadn't spilt on my gorgeous golden pencil skirt. "You do always trip with grace. I guess they taught you that at debutante school."

"They also taught me how to break someone's nose," I responded, now on my feet but still a little shaky. Now I had nothing to bribe Phil with. I also noticed that I tripped where it was possible that everyone saw me. I could see Clint laughing, Natasha pursing her lips, Bruce was pretending not to look, and Steve appeared to be a little concerned. At least someone cared about my well being. "I can't believe this happened today. This is so embarrassing."

"Stop being so shy," said Tony. "You know us all by now."

"You're superheroes and I'm a klutz so tell me how that's not embarrassing." I had to admit, that even though Tony really irritated me, he was one of the few agents at S.H.E.I.L.D. that I felt comfortable around. I could barely speak to Natasha without getting flustered because she's fairly intimidating and I had read her file. Clint and I got on okay, mostly because he and Tony rarely left me alone but he wasn't as annoying as Tony was. I'd never carried on an actual conversation with Bruce or Fury and that didn't really bother me. Steve was easily the Avenger I liked the most but he was as awkward as I was with social interactions. The difference between us on that front being, where I would ramble and talk for unnecessary amounts of time, he wouldn't say much at all. I guess I got on with Steve best because I was the agent assigned to help him acclimate to this time period.

I walked to my cubicle with Tony hot on my heels and for some reason, it just felt like everyone was watching us. Of course, Tony had the cube across from mine and Clint had one beside me. I couldn't escape them. As soon as I sat down and started up my computer, I started rattling my brain for an excuse as to why I hadn't finished working last night. I went out with friends? Oh, he'd never believe that. I don't have any friends. I was feeling sick so I went to bed early? That was a nice choice. Or I could just tell him the truth. I'm letting a potentially dangerous being stay in my house and I took him from the desert last night so that Phil couldn't find him.

That gave me pause. Had anything registered on their charts last night? I stood and looked above my cube. Everyone had gone back to work so no one would notice. I sat back down and logged in, attempting to find in my database whether they had known anything happened in the desert last night or whether they knew it had anything to do with Thor. While I was searching, I heard someone approach me. If it was Tony, he was going to pay for irritating me right now. I was trying to cover my tracks.

I turned, attempting to cover my computer screen in case anything was coming up and I saw Steve. I breathed a sigh of relief and moved away from protecting my computer. He wouldn't even understand what I was searching for.

I looked up at him. He was another person that made me feel like a hobbit. He was so incredibly tall. "I'm sorry but can I get back to you in a few minutes?" I asked, turning back to my computer screen. It was disconcerting to look at him for too long because I honestly felt that out of all of the Avengers, Steve looked the most like an actual superhero on a day-to-day basis. Maybe it was just the way he was built, I wasn't sure.

"I was coming to give you a heads up. Coulson wants those files from yesterday," I froze, "so I figured you needed the extra time to get them sorted," he responded. Bless his heart. Usually he said stuff like this just to have an excuse to move away from his cube and it was rather annoying how many times during the day he would do it but today, I really appreciated it.

"Thank you so much," I said. He smiled and nodded before turning to walk away. "Steve!" I whispered anxiously. He turned back to me, confused. I hadn't originally planned on doing this but clearly, none of the excuses I was coming up with were good ones. "I'd be lying if I said I finished these files last night." I rummaged through my huge purse and pulled them out. They were so unorganized. "I need an excuse for why I didn't get them done."

"Well, why didn't you get them done?" he asked. I knew he was just wondering what reason I could possibly have that wasn't a good one but I just gave him a pained look, one that expressed how horribly overworked I am and he nodded. "I'll just say me and you did something last night." I nodded back, considering it. It went kind of hand-in-hand with my "hanging out with friends" excuse that wasn't at all believable because I had no friends.

"Yeah, yeah, that's a good one! We'll just say that we hung out last night," I replied. All in all, it wasn't completely out of left field. Since I had actually been the agent that was responsible for helping Steve get into the groove of things in 2011, it wasn't too weird that I'd have to be around him to continue explaining stuff. That's what I could claim it was. "Like you had some questions about some things I needed to explain to you? Was that what you were thinking?"

"Sure," he said a little skeptically. We didn't have time to sort out a better plan because at that moment, Phil walked up.

"Fury's asking for those files from yesterday, Charlotte," he said to me quickly. We all answered to Fury in one way or another.

"I need another day, Phil. I didn't have the time to finish them when I got home," I said, practically whispering. He was going to get mad no matter what my excuse was and I didn't want everyone to know that I hadn't done my job fully.

"What exactly were you doing that was so much more important than what was due today?" he asked calmly. I could tell he was angry about it but was trying to keep it contained.

"She was with me," said Steve. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he would do the bulk of the talking for once and I could dodge this bullet. "I had some questions about things now and she helped me and it took longer than expected so it was completely my fault." I turned and looked up at him. He didn't need to go the extra mile and take total blame for it, especially when he wasn't involved in what happened last night at all.

"I don't know if I can buy another day," said Phil, looking between me and Steve.

"I can get it done right now, if you really need it within a couple of hours," I said.

"Then you're going to have quite the workload tonight. But yes, I need those files finished as soon as possible. Have Natasha bring them to Fury as soon as you're finished with them." I exhaled strongly.

"Fine," I said. I didn't need the extra work tonight when I needed to get Loki some clothes. He couldn't stay trapped in my house while I was at work. That would be just cruel.

"Your work with Steve does come first," said Phil to me quietly, "but I can't hold off Fury when you aren't finishing files. But I'm glad you're taking explaining things to him, seriously. That's a whole other job in itself." I appreciated the words of encouragement but now I had to do so much more than I thought I would.

Phil left and I ran my fingers through my hair with my face in my hands. "They really do work you too hard," I heard Steve say.

I rolled my head back and looked up at him. "You didn't need to take the whole bullet for me, you know? Saying it was totally your fault… you didn't need to do that."

"It's the least I could do. You've helped me plenty."

"Yeah, but that's my job," I said. It didn't really feel like one but I had been paid extra for taking him under my wing and briefing him on stuff he had missed.

"Like I said, they work you too hard." With that he walked away and I went back to searching on my computer for any evidence of Loki's arrival in the desert. It was looking like they'd blocked that part of the database from me and I almost openly cussed. The scientists must be the only ones who could see things like that. If I had any extra time, however unlikely that may be, I could call Jane and ask her if her monitors had read anything. Actually, I could probably even confess to finding Loki to her and she might not tell.

I went to working on the files when I heard someone come up behind me. "You working on those files you didn't do last night?" Of course, it was Tony.

"You caught me," I said, joking a little but still focusing on the papers in front of me. What the heck were Skrulls? Why didn't I do this yesterday?

"You let poor old innocent Captain America take the blame for you." I turned with my mouth open. You couldn't say anything here without someone overhearing. "Oh, we all saw it. I certainly wouldn't have done that for you."

"That's because you're not a nice person, Iron Man, if we're calling everybody by their superhero names."

"Hmm… what is yours, Charlotte? Oh wait, that's right. You don't have one." I shrugged.

"You really think that that insults me?" Tony raised his eyebrows and went to sit at his cube. I kept an eye on him and Clint as I pulled my cell phone out of my purse. I was going to call my house and check on Loki… if he even knew how to answer a phone. I was using my cell instead of my desk phone mostly because I knew S.H.I.E.L.D. monitored who they called and they might find it suspicious. Wow, having Loki around was making me freaking paranoid.

I dialed the number and as it was ringing, I stood and did a sweep of the cubicles like I had done earlier. Perfect, no one was up. I heard the phone pick up but nothing was said. "Hello?" I whispered.

"Hello," Loki whispered back. I choked back a laugh. He didn't understand that he didn't need to whisper too.

"It's Charlotte, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, exploring your house. How are we speaking to each other?" He was still whispering and I tried not to laugh.

"It's called a phone," I said anxiously. I saw Clint turn and raise his eyebrows. He was probably wondering who in their right mind doesn't know what a phone is? Was I harboring a third world person at my house? "Listen, it's gonna be late tonight so what size are you?"

"Excuse me?" he questioned sassily. I rolled my eyes. Men were all the same no matter where they came from.

"What size of clothes are you? Oh, you probably don't know what that means. I'll figure something out. Don't trash my house!" I whispered and hung up. Clint was still looking at me weirdly and I just smiled at him and went back to work.


	4. Chapter 4

"Clint, do you happen to have Jane's number by any chance?" I asked, focused more on writing potential clothes sizes for Loki in my planner than on the actual question.

"Depends… why do you need it?" he asked saucily, rolling his office chair over right beside me. I would've pushed him away if I thought that I had half of his strength.

"I just thought I could have lunch with her," I said quickly, slamming my planner closed. I didn't want him to see the clothes sizes or Loki's name. Clint's the type of person who wouldn't necessarily tell on me but he would certainly give me hell and it would only be a matter of time until the others knew.

"Lunch? What's wrong with me? You don't wanna have lunch with me?" I turned and looked at him, on the verge of laughing.

"That almost sounded genuine, Clint. But for real, do you have her number? It's kind of important." As soon as I'd said it, I realized that saying this was important was stupid. He rolled back from me a bit and raised his eyebrows.

"This wouldn't have to do with who you were on the phone with earlier, would it?" My lips were already parted so luckily, I didn't have to show that much of the shock I was feeling. I knew he'd noticed but why would he ask?

"Listen, my cousin's in town and he doesn't really know about stuff here, okay? Is that what you wanna hear?" It was the first thing that had come into my head and now I had a cover story for when I took him out once he had normal clothes. Damn, I was on a roll.

"Where is your cousin from that he doesn't understand phones?" Clint still had his eyebrows raised and I noticed that Tony was beginning to lean out of his cube to hear more about this.

"He's from… Sweden," I said. Another thing that just popped into my head, mostly because I made the connection from Loki to Norse mythology and from there to Sweden. The problem being, I'm obviously not from Sweden. "You know, all they've got over there is Nokia and that's so different from iPhones and stuff." I winced at my stupid excuse. Does Nokia have iPhones? I didn't know, I didn't care. I had already made up too much.

"You're totally not from Sweden," I heard Tony call from his cube. At this rate, everyone was probably hearing about my "cousin."

"_I'm _not from Sweden but he is." I almost openly wiped my brow.

"What's his name?" asked Clint, leaning back, crossing his arms. I bit my lower lip. I couldn't think of anything. WAIT.

"His name is Er- uh, Edward." My brain wanted to say he was Eric because of True Blood but I thought that would be so obviously made up that I settled for Edward. Clint rolled his eyes and Tony rolled back into his cube. Dodged a bullet there. "Clint, though, do you have Jane's number or not? This is ridiculous."

I watched him scribble down some numbers quickly and hand them to me. I breathed a sigh of relief and automatically dialed the number from my office phone. She answered quickly, thank goodness. "Hey Jane, it's Charlotte from S.H.E.I.L.D. and I was wondering if you had some time to talk to me later?" I asked anxiously.

"Probably not today, unfortunately," she responded.

"That's fine. It would be better for me tomorrow too but listen, this is important." I had lowered my voice so that everyone else couldn't hear me. I heard her sigh.

"I think tomorrow should work but I'm kind of busy in the lab. Some stuff came up on the radar last night and we're trying to find out what happened out there." I froze.

"You're kidding," I whispered, practically squeaking. Well, I had my answer. S.H.E.I.L.D. had registered something. I definitely needed to do something and quick.

"Yeah. It's definitely from Thor's world. We're looking at some samples from out there now and it's looking like it has the same chemical components that some of the stuff did when Thor came through." I practically gulped. I was beginning to get really nervous. What the heck am I stressing about? There's no possible way they could link anything to Loki and from there to my house. I had enough time to make him look normal and now I had a cover story for him. "It's probably from a person or otherwise, we would've seen something else. I wonder where he went. What if it's Thor?"

"I really doubt that it's Thor." And I wasn't just saying that because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't down here. Thor would've automatically searched out Jane. I was almost positive about that and so was S.H.E.I.L.D. It was the reason they tried to keep Jane around and have her working on a way to reach Asgard. S.H.E.I.L.D. wanted Thor in any way possible and I had no doubt that they actually would find him. "Actually, I doubt that it's anyone. Don't you think someone would've seen them by now?"

"Yeah," she said, sounding disappointed. I mean, please, Jane. She's a grown woman and a scientist. I didn't understand how she could believe in this true love, soul mate thing with Thor. He wasn't from here and he never would be. They were too different to ever actually make a real love connection. She needed a dose of reality in her life. Actually, it probably could work out if Thor ever actually came back and agreed to join the Avengers.

"Well, that's kind of what I need to talk to you about so just call me and tell me when I can see you. This is really important." It probably wasn't the most genius idea I'd ever had, to tell Jane about Loki and pray that she wouldn't tell the higher ups here. Hell, I probably shouldn't tell her. I made a deal with myself to decide when I got home about whether I could tell her.

I hung up the phone and grabbed most of my work, shoved it in my huge purse then walked past the other cubicles. The Avengers were being called into a meeting so I was able to leave. I ran into a men's store on the way home. It was an ordeal getting there since I still didn't really know where everything was in town. I would've settled for Walmart, actually.

I walked in and I realized that I had no clue what Loki would actually like but he needed something. _I'll just get him one outfit and then we can go shopping together, so if the size is wrong and everything, it's easily fixed._ I picked up a Henley looking shirt in green. Yes, this was perfect. I held up various sizes and gauged around where I thought he was. Next was the jeans, which was easily the hardest part of everything. I settled for a nice pair and checked out and went on home.

I slowly opened the door to my hovel of a house. I didn't want to startle him. "Hey, it's me, Charlotte! I'm home! And I brought you some clothes!" I said. I turned slightly and I saw him sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. I had forgotten to explain that to him. I was wondering how lax I'd gotten since I'd had to explain everything to Steve. Oh, that was totally different. At least Steve had prior knowledge of phones and television. Loki wasn't even from this planet. "I see you've discovered television."

He turned and looked up at me, for once, and asked, "What is this?"

"It's kind of the greatest thing. See, here's the remote," I said, picking it up and showing it to him. "It flips the channels." I surfed the channels for awhile and watched as he got more and more enthralled with it. "You can find anything you've ever wanted to watch. You'll get used to it."At least he had something to do while I was at work. "Hey, I bought you a shirt and some pants. You wanna put them on so I can see if I got the right size? We can go shopping together tomorrow if you want and you can get more clothes."

He gave me this really innocent look and I got really skeptical of it but it was nice, after all. I handed him the bag. "I guess you can figure out which are pants and which is the shirt, right?" He nodded at me. "Is everything okay? You're acting a little weird."

"What ever do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that you're not acting like it's a burden to talk to me and you're not acting like you're so much better than I am." He rolled his eyes a bit.

"It's not a burden for me to talk to you at all and you can't help being human. I can live with that." I parted my lips a little and smiled. He smiled back, a little mischievously, then pulled out the shirt I'd gotten him. "I love green."

"I can tell. You know, we have the same eye color. I don't know whether you've noticed. But I love the color green 'cause it goes so well with my eyes and I figured that you felt the same way." Gosh, I need to learn how to shut up. I was probably annoying him to no end. He made a face like he thought I was incredibly lame but then he smiled at me and it made me feel intensely better. I don't know why the way he felt about me meant so much.

He got up with the clothes and walked into my bedroom to change. He made me incredibly nervous.


	5. Chapter 5

As Loki walked out in front of me, I smiled. The shirt was pretty close to his actual size and the pants were maybe only one size too big. "You look great," I proclaimed, giving him approval.

He seemed very nervous and uncomfortable in the clothes but he would get used to them. He didn't openly complain to me about the way they felt or anything. I went over to him and tried fixing the shirt and jeans a little better on him. It was clear he didn't understand zippers or buttons but at least, the shirt wasn't on backwards.

"I swear, I'm not trying to grope you," I said, as I fixed the button and zipper on his jeans. It was awkward and personal but I tried not to show how embarrassed I was to be touching him. I lifted his shirt and accidentally touched his skin. I backed away quickly. It was freezing, like his skin was solid ice. "I- I'm sorry," I said when I saw his face. He looked like he was almost sad that I'd flinched away from him. "I just run warm. I-It's weird. It must be wonderful to be like you. You're never hot, are you?"

"No," he said like he wasn't sure that was the best answer.

"I really wanna know about you," I said slowly. I wasn't sure how he would take that or whether he would get angry that I asked so I phrased it so that he would think I was curious. I really did think his skin was fantastic. It being cold went so well with his pale skin and dark hair, like he was Jack Frost or something. It was really nifty. Jane hadn't told me anything like this. JANE.

"I'll tell you in time," he said, bringing me back to the conversation. I smiled at him.

"Listen, you now have a cover story for being here. You're my cousin… from Sweden." He raised his dark, shapely eyebrows. "Just go with it."

"I don't wish to be your cousin." I liked the way he'd said it.

"I don't want you to be either but it's a good excuse. Jane told me they figured out that something happened last night, AKA you crashing down onto Midgard or whatever you call it. So we'll get you more clothes and everything will be fine. Oh and your name is Edward." He shook his head and smiled. "I know it's not actually Edward but people would suspect, especially the people at my office so please just go with it."

"If I'm staying here, will you get in trouble?" I honestly hadn't even thought of the consequences. At the end of the day, I didn't really care. He needed somewhere to stay and I wasn't letting S.H.E.I.L.D. touch him.

"I don't know," I said, even though I was pretty positive that Fury would let the Avengers tear me apart for hiding something as important as Thor's brother. That's when I heard a knock at my door. Both of us froze. No one but S.H.E.I.L.D. knew who I was here and how did anyone know my address? "Hide," I whispered anxiously at Loki. I turned to answer the door and I noticed that Loki had disappeared, no doubt to my room. He was going to have to teach me some of his tricks. He was gone so fast.

I opened the door hesitantly and saw an optimistic Steve on the other side of the door. I broke into a smile. It wasn't one of the other Avengers, like Tony or Clint and it was Steve; possibly my only actual friend. "Hey," I said. "What occasion is it that I get a visit from Captain America?"

He smiled in that really casual and innocent way he has. "Unfortunately, it's not for a great reason." I bit my lip and closed my eyes.

"Phil gave you some more work for me, didn't he?" Steve gave me a sympathetic smile and handed me some papers.

"It's on something that happened in the desert last night. They think it's about Thor." My breath caught in my throat and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Loki staring at Steve through my window, a sight to behold in those clothes. I jumped, startled at how fast he was again. "Are you alright?" I turned back to Steve a bit, keeping a grip on the door. I was prepared to close it should he get close enough to get a glimpse of Loki.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I'm just exhausted. What did you say about Thor?" I wanted to know everything the Avengers knew on this. I was usually left out of their meetings along with other agents who weren't Fury or Phil Coulson. This time it was imperative I had the same information. "Is that what your meeting was about?" I let go of the door and signaled at Loki to go back into my room. I glimpsed as he narrowed those emerald eyes at me and receded into my bedroom.

"It's a bit of a long debriefing, I'm afraid." Steve seemed incredibly nervous and I wondered if he'd sensed Loki. That's impossible. How could he do something like that anyway?

"Would you- Uh, do you wanna come in?" I asked, fidgeting my fingers together. This was basically like letting the wolf into my hen house. If Loki did one thing wrong or I let something slip, I was dead, done, caput. My job was terminated. The government would probably insure that the IRS never left me alone. What am I thinking? Steve wouldn't tell on me. He wasn't Tony Stark.

He smiled a bit and nodded. He seemed either just as or more nervous than I was. I moved my arm to gesture at the couch and as I closed the door behind him, I saw Loki standing in the doorframe of my bedroom. "Can you hold on a minute?" I called to Steve.

"Sure, take your time!" I was about to sweat bullets. I pressed my hand against Loki's chest to push him back into my bedroom. He moved back, entertaining my fake strength.

"Who is that? What is he?" Loki demanded. My lips were parted and I tried to think of a way to respond. How had he registered that Steve was different? Well, it couldn't have helped that I actually referred to him as Captain America originally.

"I'll tell you later," I whispered, trying to buy time.

"He's not a regular human or at least, he's not like you." I'm sure my face scrunched into confusion. No human man would be as weak as I am anyway.

"You shouldn't use me as a means of comparison. I will tell you how he is the way he is after he leaves."

"You need to explain this to me," he demanded, hating to be confused. I knew what he was going through; after all, I'd been there with Steve before. He put his hands on either of my arms and goose bumps shivered down them. I tried not to flinch away from him, knowing how that'd made him feel earlier.

"Please, let me talk to him. Stay in here. It won't be long, I promise you. He has information on Thor." With that, Loki backed away from me, still angry.

"Make it fast." I nodded at him and shut the bedroom door on the way out. I pushed my bushy hair out of my eyes and tried to get it together enough to ask cohesive questions without hinting at the dangerous god inside my bedroom.

"Sorry I haven't done much cleaning since I got here. I'm trying to blame the grody stuff on S.H.I.E.L.D. but I guess I could've done something. I'm sorry," I blabbered. I could tell we were both nervous. As I've mentioned before, I will talk without thought when nervous and Steve won't speak very much at all.

"It's fine. You got the worst house to deal with," he responded.

"That's for damn sure," I said, gesturing at the couch for him to sit down. I sat beside him.

"Fury told us today that when Thor is recruited, they're going to basically have an Avengers house. I'm not supposed to be telling you this," he said smiling and I held back a laugh. "But the general idea, is that we'd all be together should something happen. He'll probably invite you to live there too."

"I'm not an Avenger though, like, I'm nowhere close." Steve was way too tall, even sitting down. He was so blonde that I was inherently jealous.

"You don't have to be a superhero to do great things, you know, or to save people." Loki came to my mind and I focused back on the topic of Thor.

"Oh yeah, some of us are just gifted. I'm kidding. But I don't wanna keep you long. Can you tell me about the desert and about Thor?" I asked. I was trying desperately hard not to look him in the eyes for too long.

"I'll be honest, Fury didn't tell us much." I raised my eyebrows.

"Then how is there enough to do papers on it?"

"It's because Jane found a helmet." I almost had a heart attack and I heard something creak in my bedroom. "Originally, they hadn't found anything other than some chemical samples. Right before the meeting, they unearthed the helmet and they're certain it came yesterday."

"I take it there are pictures in the folder?" He nodded. I ripped the folder open like my life depended on what was inside. I saw it and immediately knew that it was Loki's. "It came from Thor's world."

"Yes, but they're certain it's not his. They're also pretty positive the person didn't come with it." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Jane's awful close to being able to fix something to get into Asgard." I closed my eyes and thought for a long while.

"I'll do my best with this. Thanks for bringing it or actually, no thanks. But at least, they sent you to give this to me. I might've punched Tony." I rose and led him to the door.

"Coulson thought it was a pretty big possibility you would."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" I said, as he walked out.

"I'll see you then."


	6. Chapter 6

I shut the door behind Steve quickly and pressed my back against it, about to pull my hair out. A helmet? That's definitely something they could trace to Loki. All of Thor's other friends had come when he was here. There were pictures of them and what their outfits were. S.H.I.E.L.D. could figure this out. At least, we'd caught a break with them assuming that the person wasn't around.

"Loki," I called, "is this helmet yours?" I barely had the time to pull the picture out of the folder and Loki was beside me. I was getting used to his reflexes pretty quickly.

"Indeed, it is. I'd forgotten I'd had it on," he responded. I almost openly put my head in my hands. Why am I doing this?

"You forgot you had it on?" I asked. He nodded at me, like I was insane or something. "Well, I'm responsible for decoding it now. This is so much more complicated than I thought it would be."

"Why don't you sleep?" he asked. Sleeping would solve a lot of problems, except for the sheer fact that it was so hot all the time. That was a major down point for being in the desert. I certainly hoped Thor came along soon, if only that I could move back to New York sooner.

"For one thing, it's too hot to sleep right now so I need to wait until later and for another, I have to detail stuff on your helmet. So you can go on and have the bed tonight because this will be a long thing." He scrunched his face weirdly, like he was really thinking.

"It is my helmet after all. I'll help you do your… files on it." I smiled a bit.

"Thanks." I opened the file and curled my legs underneath me on the couch beside him. I reached over into my huge purse that was sitting on the floor and pulled out a pen. "The first thing they want is for me to guess at what the metal is. This is so ridiculous! How do they expect me to know what kind of metal is used in Asgard?"

Loki moved closer to me and I almost flinched back into the couch further. There was something about Loki that made me impossibly nervous and almost scared of him. "I could tell you what it is."

"I don't think they're actually expecting me to know so don't tell me. We can just do the easy stuff. They probably mean for all this on Asgard to be done by Jane." I flipped to the back and the last page told me to make sure that Jane received this next. "Sure enough, they want me to get this to her."

"Is Jane very close to figuring something out?" He looked at me incredulously and I wondered if he intended on taking advantage of what she might create.

"Steve said she was but I know that it'll probably take a few times to actually work." I saw his expression change at the mention of Steve. Oh yeah, I forgot I had promised to tell him about Steve.

"What is he?" I felt terrible about not telling him. The way he looked at me made me feel guilty automatically.

"I'll tell you in time," I said, copping out and using the excuse he'd given me about Asgard. He looked angry but he caved and nodded.

We went about finishing up the easy parts of the file and I made a note to myself to have Jane tell me how far she was on her project. I was still wrestling with the issue of whether telling Jane about Loki was a good idea or the worst thing I could possibly do. I was so weirdly protective of him. It's like I'm turning into my mother.

"Well, I'm going to sleep," I said, not even to him in particular. Loki probably didn't care except for the fact that I planned on being in that fantastic bed tonight instead of him. "If I even get to sleep because of hot it is," I muttered. He smiled like he had an idea and I just walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair. After I brushed my teeth, I turned and saw him standing right outside the door. "What are you doing?" I demanded, practically laughing. Who am I kidding? He probably hadn't seen anyone ever brush their teeth before. I picked up the brush for my hair and as I started combing through it, I noticed that Loki was just staring at it intensely. "Do you have something weird for my hair?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, disgustedly.

"Nothing," I said, facing the mirror instead of him, still trying to force the brush through my hair. "It's just that you're staring at it like it's made of gold and earlier you told me to wear it down instead of up. I don't know. It's flattering. My hair doesn't get much attention." I pulled the brush through harshly and I caught him wince out of the corner of my eye. "It needs tough love. Do you think you can do so much better than I can? You can brush it." I sarcastically handed the brush towards him. He took it, pursing his lips like he was angry, then he gestured for me to come closer. "I wasn't being serious," I said but I moved closer to him anyway.

He was so much taller than me that I didn't have to do anything, like sit down. I watched him in the mirror just glance between the brush and my hair. Then he slowly brushed the back of my hair. I swear, it was at a snail's pace. I had to bite my bottom lip; it was such an unusual situation. He kept doing it, moving from section to section like he was my hairdresser. He had his other hand smoothing it down afterward and I could feel how cold he was even through my thick hair. Loki didn't carry on long but it was long enough to almost lull me to sleep.

"Wow, thank you," I said, as he handed me the brush but didn't move from behind me. "That was fantastic. I should probably pay you for that." He stared in the mirror over my shoulder.

"Pay me?" he asked.

"You know, money. Oh, never mind, I'm seriously going to bed now." I moved to the door to enter my bedroom and he followed me. I didn't question it. I was beginning to trust him being around me. He was probably putting a spell on me or something. It was insane to trust someone I'd met only a day or two before. Actually, it was insane to trust someone who identifies as the god of mischief. "It's so hot in here," I said slowly, approaching my bed and crawling into it anyway. Maybe it wouldn't matter so much tonight.

I run so hot that it was practically impossible to fall asleep out here in the desert. I was just now getting into the swing of it being really miserable after staying here for more than just a couple of days. The only good thing about New Mexico was the lack of humidity. "This place is miserable," I mumbled into my pillow, assuming Loki had left and was back in the living room.

"Is this the side you usually sleep on?" Loki asked. I flipped over, startled and saw Loki standing right beside my bed.

"Yeah, it is," I said, skeptical.

"Move over," he said forcefully. I listened, still weirded out, and slid over to the opposite side of the bed. I watched him take off that new green shirt and I thought about turning away out of manners but I was too confused to look away. He lifted the blankets carefully and got in my bed.

"What are you doing?" I couldn't help asking. He flipped on his side and smirked at me. I slouched on my back and laughed a little. "You're incredibly weird." I felt him get off the bed and when I looked over at him, he gestured at the side he'd just left. I rolled into it, just to appease him, not expecting any magic to have happened, but it had. The side was now cold, freezing almost. I tried thinking of something to say and I'm sure he could tell how conflicted I was. "This is- You're so- How- This is fantastic." He smirked again, attractively. Actually, most everything he did was attractive. Originally, I had thought he could possibly pass as normal if he had a new outfit and a fake name but it was becoming clear to me that he was completely not human. I couldn't hide that for very long.

I rationalized that Loki understood that I knew who he was so he didn't bother trying to hide what he's like from me. I knew he got a kick out of being better and stronger than humans, Jane had told me that. Even Thor had had tendencies to treat humans as lesser beings. It didn't bother me, after all, compared to them, we _were _lesser beings.

"If you need me to do it again, just let me know." He turned to leave my room and grabbed his shirt. "We're getting more clothes tomorrow, correct?"

"We definitely can. Thank you for this." I couldn't even think straight. This was completely strange. He grinned at me then left the room.

The next day, we went and got him more clothes, which was certainly an experience. He seemed eager to put them on and he had an almost joking quality to him while we were in public. I couldn't say if he was beginning to trust me or whether we just automatically clicked as roommates and friends. Soon two weeks had passed and we had a system of going and getting groceries, of looking at clothes, of staying in. We were fantastic roommates. He still had yet to reveal much about himself, other than him being consistently cold (which I figured was an Asgard thing) and the random things I observed. How he could just magically get anywhere in under two seconds, how things would just disappear from my room, random qualities that I knew were just tapping what all that Loki could actually do. I didn't expect him to just gallivant around, wearing that suit and doing strange tricks.

During the two weeks of Loki living with me, us alternating who took the bed, him always somehow making my room cold, I did what I could to stall developments with his helmet at S.H.I.E.L.D. I had decided that telling Jane I had Loki was a stupid idea. She was so desperate trying to reach Asgard that I was certain she would try to steal Loki away and make him tell her everything about Thor. I didn't press Loki for information of any kind; I honestly didn't want to provoke him. If I accidentally brought up Thor, he became silent and petulant with me for the rest of the night. It was probably for the better that he didn't tell me anything anyway. If I knew much, it would be basically impossible to keep it from the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm a terrible liar. It was a miracle that I'd been able to hide Loki this long, even with the cousin cover story. I knew that eventually he would be seen by people I knew. We went out far too often to avoid them forever.

We went to the grocery store one night after I'd gotten off work. Loki got the basket, mostly because if anything on Earth vaguely thrilled him, it was going to the grocery store with me and pushing the buggy. The place was never crowded. We were about halfway through shopping when Loki just stopped in the middle of the aisle.

"What is it?" I asked, throwing some Goldfish in the basket.

"I've never noticed that they play music in here," he replied, looking down at me.

"Oh yeah, it's coming through the speakers. Believe me, the music played in supermarkets isn't the best that Midgard has to offer." He smiled down at me.

"Thank you for explaining all these things to me."

"You're totally welcome." He started pushing the buggy again and I asked, "Do you know how to dance?"

"Why are you asking?" he said, raising his eyebrows a little.

"I was just wondering if that's something you Asgardians do," I said playfully.

"We can dance together sometime." I smiled at him.

"We should! Hey, I'll just go get the orange juice. You stay with the basket?" He nodded down at me. I left and walked to the back of the store. As I turned to walk back to Loki with the orange juice, I heard someone talking. I would know that voice anywhere. It was Tony Stark. Then another joined in; Clint Barton. I quickly ducked behind an aisle. This wasn't actually happening, was it? No, of course, it was.

I turned and looked to see if I could reach Loki in time to leave before they saw us but saw Tony approaching him. No, oh please no. "I just saw you with Charlotte," he said. I hate him.

"Yes, I'm her cousin. My name is Edward. Who might you be?" replied Loki. I sighed. He had remembered. I pulled it together and walked down the aisle towards them. Clint greeted me at the end of the aisle, blocking me from reaching Tony and Loki.

"Hey Clint, it's great to see you but I've really gotta run," I muttered, attempting to push past him. He moved to block me again.

"So that's your cousin?" he asked. "He looks nothing like you."

"Most cousins don't look exactly alike, thank you very much."

"I hear that you're Swedish," I saw Tony remark to Loki. Loki, instead of being visibly distressed, he looked like he had his head on straight.

"That I am. Unfortunately, I don't know much so Charlotte's had to explain a lot to me," he responded.

"I hear she's good at that." I could see Tony rolling his eyes.

"I hear she's _really _good at that," Clint said to me. I bit my bottom lip. Tony and Clint always liked to have jokes about me and their latest one happened to be about Steve. Loki looked confused but then he saw me with Clint and he seemed relieved.

"Look, I don't wanna talk about Steve right now," I said, finally pushing past Clint. As I put the orange juice in the basket, I heard Tony.

"He's totally in love with you, Charlotte."

"That's not funny, okay? I can take your jokes but you shouldn't be a jerk to him too." I was facing the two of them now, assuring that Loki was behind me. I was very primal in my protection of him, almost like an animal.

"You find us funny," said Clint. "Besides, everything else might be a joke but Steve having a crush on you isn't."

I gestured at Loki to push the buggy to the check out. I didn't like talking about Steve in front of him ever since I'd not told Loki what Steve is. Now I would have even more questions to answer. Tony was obviously something he would pick up on. "I can't believe that members of the _Avengers_ are so amused by something like that," I whispered.

"We're stuck in a desert with nothing else to do. What do you expect?" asked Tony.

I turned to leave. "I'll see ya'll tomorrow." I certainly didn't want to talk about Steve Rogers right now. He was too nice and too cute for me at any rate.

"Who were they?" whispered Loki, as I reached him in the check out line.

"I'll explain everything when we get home." At the end of the day, I probably didn't have a choice. "You did good."

"Really?" he said, smiling that pretty smile of his. I nodded, barely containing my smile. I really liked Loki and I was sure I was growing on him too. After we carried the groceries outside, we horsed around in the parking lot; mostly, running to put the basket back in the line. But I noticed we were touching each other a lot, in a really natural, comfortable way and that we were laughing. As Loki got in my Jeep, I looked over my shoulder and saw Tony and Clint raising their eyebrows. My phone went off before I had the chance to buckle up.

Tony Stark: _He's not really your cousin, is he?_


	7. Chapter 7

I threw my phone in my huge purse and forcefully threw it in the backseat. I gripped the keys in the ignition so hard that I was certain that they would break off. "Are you quite alright?" Loki asked.

I nodded, backing out. "I'm totally fine, it's just-"

"It's just what?" I unconsciously ran a hand through my hair and I noticed him staring at again, as though the color was the most unusual he'd ever seen.

"I think they thought I was too chummy with you for us to actually be cousins."

"I don't think I understand."

"You know, friendly? The way we joke around is not typical of the way family members here act." I saw him focus his eyes on the road in front of us, as though he was feeling bad about it. "It's not your fault. I should have explained something like that to you."

"Are you going to get in trouble for this?" It was the second time he'd asked me and this time my answer was even more unsure.

"I don't know what's gonna happen. I think they thought you were human, just not my cousin. I guess that's fine." I could barely focus on driving. Tony would no doubt make this a joke and that's not the worst part of it. I can take his teasing but I certainly didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D. to know anything about someone staying with me, "cousin" or not. They'd want a background check, medical records, the whole shebang.

That's when I felt Loki grab my hand. Without turning my head, I looked at him with my heartbeat rising. It wasn't a normal, calm-you-down type of holding hands. He kept our hands linked until I needed to turn off the Jeep. He got out as though everything was normal while I sat in the driver's seat a lot longer than was average. What the hell was he doing? I was positive he actually hated humans; he hated people who couldn't do the things he could. He would get angry when I couldn't open a bottle and had to ask him. Sometimes he grimaced at the things I wore as if I wasn't good enough for him. I forgave all of that because I knew he was basically an alien, a member of an actual superior race. I thought of him as a friend and of course, I thought he was gorgeous but I was practically certain he didn't think of me as more than an ally for a short period of time. I highly doubted he was physically attracted to me. I mean, Loki is top-of-the-food-chain gorgeous; how could he find any woman here attractive?

This was like a dream; an incredibly wonderful dream where I actually might win a guy, where it didn't bother him how much I worked or how much I liked going to grocery stores or how bad my driving was. Loki had never experienced anything on Earth without me, why shouldn't he be attached?

"Charlotte," Loki said, opening my door, "are you really alright? You're acting strange." I got out of the car, grabbed my purse, and walked to the door.

"Lemme ask you something, Loki," I said, unlocking the door. Loki would come back for the groceries, he always insisted.

"Of course." He gave me a beautiful, innocent look and it practically hurt me to look at him. When he would make a face like that, I knew that he actually was a god.

"Do you understand what holding someone's hand means down here? Holding my hand like you did on the way back home?" He looked flustered.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that you think of me as more than a friend." It appeared that he still wasn't getting it. "It means that you're interested in me… romantically." He thought a little bit while it felt like I was about to actually have an aneurysm.

"Okay, that's fine." He turned to get the groceries and I followed him.

"So… you won't do it again?" Loki turned back to me.

"If it bothered you then of course not." He continued onto getting the groceries and I froze in the doorway. Did that mean what I thought it meant? As he returned with the bags, I moved out of his way, stunned.

"Loki, did you completely understand what I was saying by romantic? Being involved romantically means that you like… care for me as more than a friend and that you wanna help me and you think I'm kinda attractive and you would want to kiss me or something." I was totally embarrassing myself, I was certain.

"Well, don't we do stuff like that already? We take care of each other and by Midgardian standards, you are attractive. The only thing we don't do is touch." I paused and was a little in shock. "You said Midgardian couples take a long time to live with each other because they don't know how to balance together. We already do that. Do you have a problem with me? Is that it?"

"No, not at all. You're gorgeous and wonderful and my friend." He smiled at me.

"I knew you thought so." He went about putting up the groceries as I sank into the couch. This was impossible. We were together? He felt the same way about me? He explained it like it was common sense that we should date. Hell, maybe it was. This was certainly not what I anticipated when I picked him up in the desert. But he was right; within three weeks, we had clicked and got into a system with each other, joking and shopping and living together. It did make sense.

"Orange juice goes in the… refrigerator, right?" I heard him ask.

"Uh… Yeah, it does." I heard him open and close the fridge door. I was so nervous. I got up and walked into my bedroom, pulling out a nightgown. After I'd gotten into it, I looked in the mirror above my dresser. I would get ready for work right here when the bed was mine. Maybe I wouldn't have that problem much longer.

I heard the bedroom door open and I flinched. "Oh hey," I said, a nervous wreck. "Do you want some dinner?" I reluctantly turned and looked into his green eyes, ones that were perfect mirrors of mine.

"Maybe later." I nodded.

"I'm sorry that I can't stop talking about it but why are you being this way with me?" I just needed to know that this wasn't a practical joke. I was excited and incredibly scared at the same time.

"You like who I am, don't you?"

"I certainly like what I know about you. You haven't told me very much."

"You actually like my skin and you treat me like I'm your only care."

"Your skin isn't the same as other Asgardians?" I asked, avoiding the second part. A lot of the time, Loki felt like he was my only care.

"I'll tell you about that later, I promise you. Maybe at dinner?" I nodded.

"I do care about you. You're right about that." He smiled. I could practically hear him in my head, _Of course you care, you're a mortal and I'm a god. _

"I believe I want to touch you." I raised my eyebrows. What the hell? I nodded again, giving him permission even though my heart was about to explode. He walked towards me and touched my face with either of his hands. "Do you realize how huge your eyes are?" I laughed. It reminded me of the once that Steve had remarked that I looked like an owl.

"I do."

"Do you realize how warm you are?"

"Compared to you, I'm sure I am."

"I wonder if touching you will make me warm." I gasped a bit. What did that mean?

"You can try," I whispered. Then he bent towards me and touched his lips to mine, barely at first, but then I stood taller and made it an actual kiss. It felt like I had walked outside in winter, the cold ran through my veins and I could feel my cheeks getting red, like I'd been out in the wind. It was the most unusual and the most fantastic kiss I'd ever had.


	8. Chapter 8

**Some of the chapters, including this one, will be having a third person part. It's to show what things are going on with other people and soon, the third person parts will be showing things that Charlotte doesn't know. Thank you so much for all of the feedback I've been getting from you. **

Loki moved back from Charlotte after they had kissed. She had a look of clear joy on her face and for once, he felt the same way he had before Odin had revealed that Loki was actually a Frost Giant. He still wasn't happy about that fact and now he had to tell Charlotte. "How about that dinner?" she asked, moving past him hurriedly. It was clear to him that he had made her nervous. He had known she liked him; after all, she had always sort of treated him as if he was her child.

He moved and sat at the two person table that was pretty much in the living room with the couch and television. He watched her move franticly through the kitchen making what he assumed was a salad; the only thing Charlotte knew how to make. She put all sorts of vegetables in it though and Loki had grown accustomed to having one at least once a week. The other nights, they ate out because Charlotte loved fast food and it was starting to show. She would mumble to herself about starting to work out but Loki knew she never would.

Charlotte set the bowl of salad in the middle of the small table and gave the seats plates. After a few minutes of eating in silence, Charlotte broke it. "I'm sorry I'm not saying much but I'm still a little in shock about what happened a little bit ago."

He smiled a smile that he knew charmed her. She weakly smiled back, clearly still nervous. "It's odd for me too," he responded and it was. Charlotte was mortal, a human, someone his plans now included conquering. He was banished from Asgard at any rate. Midgard was full of a species that he could control. Charlotte fell under that category but at the same time, she didn't. She went out of her way to make sure he was comfortable here and she didn't see the flaws that the Asgardians had seen in him. Charlotte was by no means perfect, she was clumsy and easily panicked and extremely talkative. Somehow, even though much of it bothered him on occasion, he could live with her faults as she seemed willing to do with his.

"I'll tell you about the guys in the store and Steve in return for you explaining at least a little. I don't have to know it all, I'm not asking for that. I just wanna know a little." That was a positive that she had, she never really asked for much information from him, clearly sensing that he was private about things. Although, it was obvious that she was like him in that respect or maybe her protectiveness spilled over to the men in the store and Steve. Loki didn't like that possibility at all.

"Thor's not really my brother." She raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know until recently, when he was here. I am what you would call… adopted." Charlotte nodded. "I've always been jealous of him. It was so clear that everyone favored him. We're princes, you know, and Thor, by default, was going to be king. I never had a real shot at it. Now I know why."

"You're not exactly like Thor and Odin, are you? You're something else," she claimed.

"We've been fighting these… creatures for centuries," Loki said, struggling to tell it in plain enough speech for Charlotte to understand it. "Odin originally defeated them. They're called Frost Giants."

"That explains the cold."

"Their touch can kill one of us or at the very least, wound. I noticed something was odd about myself when one had touched me in battle and no harm had come." She nodded at him intently, those big green eyes growing larger. "My father took me as a baby from their land because I was clearly orphaned. He saw no harm in taking me since I was only a child. I know what I am now. I'm a monster."

"How can you say anything like that? You've not been raised to be a… Frost Giant so in my opinion, you aren't one." Loki was confused by how willing she was to accept him.

"I can show you what I look like as one."

"You can change appearance?"

"That's not the only thing I can do." He reached his hand across the table and Charlotte stared at it while it became blue. She gasped and he pulled away from her, his hand becoming pale again.

"Wait, I didn't get to see all of you like that." For being a human, Charlotte was certainly surprising, but Loki knew that most humans were not like Charlotte. Many Asgardians weren't.

"It doesn't bother you?"

"Of course not." She gave him a baffled look as if she couldn't understand how it could bother her. "Is that why you don't like it when I bring up Thor? Because you were so jealous of him?" Loki nodded. He had edited out the part about actually being the one to send the Destroyer and the fight on the bridge that ended up with cursing him here. Loki knew Thor returning to Earth would be the catalyst for making him go ahead with his plan; a plan that needed to be fleshed out more. "You said changing appearance is not the only thing you can do."

"You said you weren't going to ask many questions." She grinned. Obviously, she liked that he was mysterious about things.

"Just tell me one thing. I'm being honest when I say that you don't have to tell me anything else," Charlotte responded.

"Well, one of my favorite things to do is to project. I suppose that it's sort of an illusion but it's incredibly useful in battle." She nodded and didn't even need to ask him to show her. He did. All at once, there were many Lokis. One in the kitchen, one in the living room, one standing right near Charlotte. She gasped again. Then they disappeared.

"That's incredible." He could tell that she regretted only asking one thing. "When Thor came, he didn't have his powers. How come you have yours?"

"Because Thor was banished and it wasn't until he proved himself that he could regain his power. I'm here by accident." He skimmed over the words and she seemed to believe him. "Are you going to tell me what those men were?"

Charlotte sighed and nodded. "I don't exactly know how to word it. Well, Tony, the guy who spoke directly to you at the store, you would know who he was if you lived here. Do you know what a superhero is?"

"Is he Iron Man?" Loki asked, surprising Charlotte.

"Yes, he is. How did you know that?"

"I watch television while you're at work."

"So you understand that he wears a suit and everything? He's really rich and very technologically savvy. He funds a lot of the stuff for my company. He's the reason we get new tech, he's the reason Jane is getting funding at all. Now Clint, the other guy who spent most of his time antagonizing me, there's nothing particularly special about him. Well, in a sense, without his suit, there's nothing special about Tony either. But Clint is extremely good at archery. I mean, he can do anything with a bow and arrow. He works strictly for S.H.I.E.L.D., same as I do. Tony has his own business, as I'm sure you've figured out from his TV specials. Now Tony got a lot of his riches and his smartness from his father, Howard. Howard Stark helped fund what created Steve, in a way." Loki nodded, taking in all of the new information. "I mean, Steve's always been human but he's not always been… strong. Did you notice how big he is? He wasn't like that. Do you have any idea about history here?"

"Vaguely, again, from what I've caught on television."

"Do you know what World War II was?" Loki appeared to be thinking. Yes, he remembered it but it was practically 70 years ago. Many mortals died in that amount of time.

"It's too long ago for him to still be the same age."

"I don't really understand that either but I'm certainly no scientist. But anyway, Steve used to be really small, probably my height and much skinnier. All he wanted was to fight in the war but he was never given the chance because physically, he couldn't withstand a lot of things. I know that's hard for you to grasp, given everyone in Asgard is pretty much immune to sickness. But these scientists picked because he was so small and they'd come up with this formula that basically would create a perfect soldier. Long story short, they gave it to him and he became like he is now, tall and strong. He can do just about anything. There's not so much anything weird about him. It's just that he's at the highest physical peak a human can reach. He can clear 8 foot fences, he can run without stamina bothering him, he can basically do anything he wants. He's not indestructible but the serum they gave him great physical side effects."

"But he was alive and the same age 70 years ago?" Loki was curious about these fantastical humans that Charlotte worked with.

"As I understand it, he crashed a plane to save New York City and it was in the Arctic. I don't know if the freezing did something or it was serum but no, he hasn't aged. He was asleep though for pretty much 70 years. I had to explain everything that happened since then to him. I suppose it's why I'm good at it with you."

"The men in the store mentioned that," said Loki, remembering when one had insinuated that Steve was in love with Charlotte.

"They have a thing for teasing me. It's best you don't take anything they say seriously," she said, clearly nervous.

"Do you have something with him?" Charlotte seemed confused, her pouty lips parted as they usually were.

"Of course not. He's my only friend there. There's nothing more to it than that."


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you so much for the feedback. I don't own anything but Charlotte and this is her POV chapter.**

That night had been so weird that I was certain I had dreamed it up. I crawled out of my bed as my alarm went off and moved like a zombie to my closet. I hadn't slept very much at all because I was so confused and excited about everything that had happened.

I got dressed but consciously knew I looked like a slob. I didn't care. As I grabbed my huge purse and the work I didn't finish, yet again, I saw Loki laying straight on the couch. His perfect posture was insane. I had taken ballet and I could never be that way. I fumbled for my keys and unlocked the door then I felt someone behind me. I smiled and turned, knowing it was Loki.

He bent towards me and kissed me like he had the night before, pushing me against the door. So apparently, the night before actually had happened. I reciprocated the kiss fully until he finally pulled away. "Have a nice day at work," he said and he walked back to the couch.

"Thanks," I replied, breathless. I pushed out of the door and ran to get in my Jeep. Once I got buckled up and started the engine, I literally yelled, "Hell yes!" I drove to the building, somewhat dancing behind the wheel.

This was the first time I actually felt like I was winning something. I'd had boyfriends before but never for very long and nearly all of the ones in my adult life were turned off by my being a workaholic or they had some issue with my annoying personality. If Loki had those issues with me, he'd yet to tell me that and I was certain that he would.

I walked in the office building smiling and waltzed up to my cube. I waved at Natasha as she gave me a weird look and as I sat down, I watched Tony roll out of his cubicle and Clint moved closer to me as well. "What's got the resident Southern belle in such a good mood?" asked Tony.

"Your jokes are not gonna bother me today, Tony, so just stop before you start," I responded. He raised his eyebrows and rolled back to his cubicle. I turned to Clint, hoping he'd roll away too.

"In a few minutes, we're having an Avengers meeting with Fury and everyone. I think Jane will be there," he said.

"Are you saying I have to go to this?"

"It's about that helmet, we figured. I mean, what else is so important?" With that, he went back to fiddling on his computer and shamelessly flirting with Natasha, as was the norm. I had frozen at the mention of the helmet. I had honestly forgotten about it for the most part. After two weeks, what new information could they possibly have on it? Information that made it imperative we all attended a meeting?

I walked to the meeting room slowly, straggling behind. I still managed to beat Jane, Fury, and Phil. The room consisted of a huge table that allowed for all of us to sit comfortably with each other and at the front of the room was a projection screen that was used for showing Power Points or videos. There was a room just like it at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New York. It was eventually going to be used for briefing the Avengers on new missions.

I took a seat beside Steve nervously. For some reason, seeing him made me automatically feel guilty. "Hey," I said, "how are you?" He smiled a bit at me and when he smiled at me, it was virtually impossible not to smile back.

"I'm doing alright. I'm glad something's finally happening after we've been out here so long," he responded. I looked down at my hands.

"Yeah, that's true. Do you know how far Jane is on her tunnel or whatever it's called?" Clearly, I was no scientist but I also didn't know much about it because SHIELD seemed hellbent on keeping scientific information, like Jane's work, under wraps.

"I don't think they want anyone but themselves to know what's happening with her. I guess it's not going so well." I sighed. That was a good sign because it bought me a lot of time. I was also just worried about Loki wanting to leave and go back to Asgard. That or that he would want to hurt Thor. Neither were options I wanted to consider.

I stared across the table and saw Tony antagonizing Bruce, as usual trying to make him Hulk out. I'd never witnessed it and I never planned to. Hopefully, he had enough self control to not get enraged over anything stupid Tony might say. Clint was still putting the moves on Natasha. That left Steve and I who, as usual, were the only sane ones there. There were various other people from S.H.I.E.L.D. straggling in and I could it was the first time many of them had even seen the Avengers, let alone sat with them for a meeting. I caught a glimpse of one of the women checking out Steve and while I saw others looking at Clint and even Tony, this one bothered me.

"That girl is checking you out," I muttered, motioning with my head towards a short-haired blonde who was pencil-thin and was actually trying to look flirtatious. "Watch out, she looks like she's ready to pounce." I was trying to be my usual joking self but this chick was really bothering me.

"She's going to be disappointed. She's not my type." I was almost openly relieved. What the hell was going on with me?

"Like that's gonna stop her from trying." I watched her come and take the open seat on the other side of Steve and I ran my hand through my big hair, frustrated. I looked up to distract myself from annoyed I was and I saw Tony giving me a look that conveyed that he saw the girl flirting with Steve. I heard the girl's terrible Minnesotan accent and without thinking, I turned my head and glared at her and motioned my head for her to find a new place to sit. She looked clearly intimidated by me and it appeared that she got the message to leave him alone. She left and I automatically felt better. Tony gave me a thumbs up from across the table and my happiness paused. Tony had thought I was jealous. Whoa, was I? No way, that's so completely ridiculous. I have a boyfriend now, right? The word boyfriend left a bad taste in mouth concerning Loki. He certainly wasn't the typical definition of "boyfriend."

"Did you get her to go away?" Steve brought my head down from the clouds. I turned and looked at him. One thing I'd always liked about Steve was how he always had that cute side part in his hair.

"Yeah, I did, actually."

"Well, thank you. I was right, she wasn't my type."

"I got your back." With that, Jane and Phil walked in, followed by Fury. I leaned back in my seat and waited for them to reveal what news they had found out on the helmet. Actually, maybe it wasn't about that at all. I could always hope that we were brainstorming new costume ideas for everyone.

Finally, we all quieted as Nick Fury stood at the front of the room. I kept my hands under the table, nervously flicking my fingers against each other. I couldn't keep Loki a secret forever, I knew that, and as every day went by, I got more and more worried that I would potentially let something slip. I didn't want him to pay for any mistake I might make. If I thought I could trust anyone, I would've told them, but there were zero people here that I could trust with a secret as lethal as protecting Loki. He was a god, he was Thor's brother, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was under the impression he wasn't good. Out of the two people I could maybe trust, Jane would want to question him on Thor which would eventually lead to S.H.I.E.L.D. knowing where he was and Steve is probably more concerned with the good of the group than anything else. It was dangerous for me to be hiding something like this.

"Okay people, I'm gonna make this quick," said Fury. "Jane needs to be back in the lab soon."

"Apparently, it's not going as badly as we thought," said Steve, leaning towards me. I nodded. That wasn't what I was hoping for.

"Jane's been doing a lot of work lately and all of it has made great progress. In the next week, she is hoping to do a trial run of her project on reaching Asgard." I saw Jane nod proudly and my heartbeat started quickening. One week? That's all? "But that is not the reason we've gathered you. Today this is about the Asgardian helmet that was found not three weeks ago."

I heard Clint whisper, "Told ya so," to Tony and I grasped my hands together. This wasn't happening.

"We know who the owner of the helmet is." My nails almost made my hand start bleeding. I turned my head and looked straight at Fury and Jane. I had known they could probably link the helmet to it's owner because there were pictures of Thor's friends and none of them wore helmets remotely like that one. "His name is Loki and he is Thor's brother." I would have been hyperventilating if my breathing hadn't stopped, period. My good mood from earlier dissipated. "We are unsure as to whether he is here or if there was some mistake in Asgard. Either way, this is giving us conclusive evidence about why Thor may be taking so much time before returning. It is no secret that Loki is the one who sent the Destroyer to this small town to prohibit Thor from returning to Asgard." Was that even true? I know I wasn't there for that but I highly doubted that was the way things were. I had known they assumed Loki was the evil one with the Destroyer but now that directly affected me. They would arrest him, if they had any clue what he looked like and they probably didn't. "Thor returned there and is probably being held up because he needs to take care of his brother." _Oh, that's what you think. Thor is being held up because the Bifrost is broken not because Loki is some terrible being. _

Other things were said during the meeting but my mind focused purely on the things about Loki. How was I going to explain any of this? What was I going to do when Jane inevitably would fix it so that she could reach Thor? What was I going to do when Thor came here? I couldn't keep all of this from Loki. I was already too confused by the lies I was already telling and now I had emotional feelings for him to throw into the mix. There was going to be trouble soon and it was going to come to heads because of me.


	10. Chapter 10

"Listen, I've got something to tell you," I said as I opened the door to the small one bedroom house S.H.I.E.L.D. had condemned me to. I looked over at the couch and saw Loki sitting up straight and staring at me. He was either staring at me or just plainly, at my hair. The second option wouldn't have surprised me. "We got told something about your helmet today."

"You and those various men you work with?" he asked, as if who I was with at the time was more important than the information I now possessed.

"I work with women too. But this is important." I was going to leave out the part about Jane having a test run next week but he had a right to know about the helmet.

Loki practically rolled his eyes at me, which if you asked me, was much too human a gesture for him. "Do tell," he said. I wondered what happened while I was out today that made him revert back to the way he was when I first met him.

"They said they know who the helmet belonged to. They said your name and that you were Thor's brother and that it was common knowledge that you sent the Destroyer here. They're unsure whether you're actually on Earth but they know for certain that the helmet belonged to you."

"It's taken them three weeks to figure that out?" I raised my eyebrows.

"You're not surprised by this?"

"There's no chance they'll find me. You are taking care of that, aren't you?" I nodded. "Don't worry about it. We're completely safe."

"I don't think we are, Loki. I can't keep you hidden forever. Surely, you know that."

"I don't see why not." He clearly seemed confused, as if he figured I would rat him out when that wasn't the case. It's just that S.H.I.E.L.D. is smart and eventually, Thor would return.

"Inevitably, I have to go back to New York with them. I thought you understood that. This isn't a permanent house; S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't supposed to be out here for very long."

He narrowed his eyes at me, as if I was honestly stupid. "Are you saying I can't go with you?"

"Why would you want to? We leave here once we've gotten Thor and convinced him to work with us. I'm assuming that if he's gotten here, you'll want to leave the same way he came." I didn't want to suggest the idea because of how used I was to having Loki around but I thought for certain that that was his plan anyway.

"I do not believe I should go back there, at least not now." He avoided completely looking at me and I knew he hadn't been totally honest with me.

"Were you actually the one who sent the Destroyer?" I asked, slowly inching toward the couch he was sitting on. He turned and gave me a glare that made me stop in my tracks.

"I don't have to explain my actions to you."

"You owe me an answer to that. I'm not asking for a confessional here. I'm asking for yes or no. That's all I want. I told you I won't press you for information but I need to know this. They truly believe you did it and if they think that, I have to believe that Thor said it to Jane. There's only so much I can do for you." I was pleading with him but he was coldly ignoring my advances for answers.

"You've done enough for me, Charlotte. You do not need to defend me to people who do not realize that I'm even here. I'm not your son. I'm your lover." I stepped back from him and threw my purse on the small two person table.

"You're right. I'm sorry." He was right, that was true. I had been more than paranoid and it was one of many flaws of mine. Maybe how protective of him I was, was a flaw too and I hadn't realized it. "I'll stop obsessively taking care of you. In fact, if you want, you're more than welcome to go out during the day while I'm at work." He smiled at me, like he'd gotten exactly what he'd wanted. Loki may not realize it but clearly, I _was _the mother and he _was _the son. His petulance and how naïve he was in the ways of Earth were incredibly childlike. "So you've decided to call us lovers even though we've never slept together?" I asked, changing the subject.

Loki's lips curved into a smirk that I know he knew was attractive. "It's inevitable, don't you think?"

"What kind of girl do you think I am?" I asked, almost sweating profusely. Kissing him was one of the weirdest experiences of my life; I couldn't imagine sleeping with him.

"Why do I make you so nervous?" I turned and walked into my bedroom. There was no question that he made me nervous but he seemed to want to capitalize on things like that. I heard him follow me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm about to take a shower so go back to whatever you were doing before I came home. If you're not worried about your helmet, then at least, I told you." I pushed past him and shut the door to the bathroom. Loki really liked to drive me up a wall and he was terribly good at it.

"You still didn't answer my question," he said through the door and I laughed. I got in the shower and finally started to relax after these hellish few days. Then I heard the door to the bathroom open.

"I'm getting the feeling that you didn't tell me everything," I heard Loki's melodic voice say.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" I screeched, poking my head out of the shower, using the clouded curtain to cover myself.

"I like your hair wet," he mentioned nonchalantly. "But as I was saying, I don't think you told me everything earlier. Why did they tell you that about my helmet?"

"Loki, seriously, what the hell are you doing? Couldn't this wait?" Besides being appalled at him just busting into the bathroom while I was showering, I was shocked that he had picked up on my leaving something out. I guess I had to spill about Thor. "Let me get out of the shower and then I'll talk to you, okay?"

"Are you shy?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Clearly, he wasn't too distraught by me not telling him about Jane's tunnel.

"Actually, yes, I am so please give me a minute." He rolled his eyes then closed them, as if that was all the reassurance I needed. "Loki, can't you go in the living room or something?" He openly sighed and walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He clearly didn't understand that humans had boundaries.

I got dried off and got in a nightgown quickly, trying to think of a game plan. Hell, why was I even bothering? I could just tell him straight up. He wasn't planning on going back to Asgard once Thor got here… but that didn't exclude him wanting to hurt Thor. There was an obvious amount of animosity between them and I was worried that it would come to blows. Damn, even if Loki didn't wish to go back, once Thor was here, he would inevitably be exposed and then I, of course, would be exposed.

"It's about Jane, okay? What I left out is about Jane," I said, walking into the living room barefoot and in my nightgown. Loki looked up at me from the couch and it was like telepathically he told me to sit down beside him. I knew he didn't but it always felt like he was in my head whenever I was home. Sometimes even at work, I thought he was around; which should be totally impossible, right? "Next week, she's having a test run to see if she can get to Thor. I doubt it will work right the first time but you never know." I sat on the opposite end of the couch than Loki and put my legs up beside me. I kept trying to convince myself to be calm but it was practically impossible.

Loki turned and said, "If he indeed does come to Earth next week, can be sure and not mention me being here? I'd hate for him to hunt me down. We didn't end things on great terms."

"You got it." Well, that was incredibly easy; much easier than I expected.

"Besides, I don't wish for you to be in jeopardy at your job or at all." I didn't quite understand that and it threw me for a loop.

"Thank you," I said and then finally, I was the one who initiated the kissing and whatever else was to ensue.


	11. Chapter 11

A few weeks passed from that time. Loki and I were becoming increasingly more couple-like and Jane's research had failed on more than a couple of occasions. I got used to the idea that we would literally have to wait on Thor because clearly, Jane couldn't get there no matter how much she tried. None of it bothered me. Living in the desert meant having more time with Loki which I was always eager for more of.

Loki would go out while I was at work and would sometimes be gone for days at a time. I never knew what he was doing and when I asked, all he would say was that he was "exploring the area" or something ridiculous like that. I didn't bother trying to get him to elaborate. He didn't owe me answers on that when I never explained the things I did at my job or the people I worked with. Loki would get obviously jealous whenever one of them called me. I never told him anything further than what I already had about Tony, Clint, and Steve. The less he knew, the better.

Our relationship had progressed to having him cook for me and we slept in the same bed. We had just gotten to be so comfortable with each other that we didn't even care. It was great to not have to sleep on the couch every other night. It didn't mean we were sleeping together; I was still incredibly nervous about that and he totally knew I was. I consciously knew that Loki really wanted to and it was still surreal to me that he would even want to look at me, let alone kiss me like that or have sex with me.

I liked being able to turn over in my bed and immediately be able to get close to Loki's cold skin. We had become a pretty great couple in such a short amount of time and we were so clearly attached to each other.

Work was menial. They had let up on the amount of things in a day that I had to do which let me have a lot of down time at home. I fell in the office at least once a week as usual. Sometimes I would slip at home but Loki would always grab me before I officially tripped and then he would proceed to get irritated and ask if I could just try to not hurt myself for once.

On the days that Loki wouldn't be at home, I would go out with Clint and Steve and Tony, when he wasn't over at Stark Enterprises. Recently, as it became apparent that we wouldn't find Thor any time soon, Tony had started going back to his office in California to continue work there and see Pepper. It's no secret that Tony wasn't a fan of teamwork anyway.

It was a regular night when everything began to spice up. I had come home from work in a daze, irritated because they were having an Avengers only meeting and had refused to invite me. I didn't particularly care that I wasn't an actual Avenger but wasn't I around them enough to go to their meetings? Jane was usually there so what was so wrong with me? Oh well, they would start leaving Jane out once they eventually found Thor. At this rate, it would be years.

I was really irritated at myself because Steve had moved cubicles to the one right beside me. I still had Clint on my other side. But since he had moved to sit beside me, I never got to finish my work. We were always talking and I was always distracted. But of course, whenever Steve got up to actually go fetch some files or something, Tony (if he was there) and Clint would commence into taunting me. (On a semi unrelated note, I constantly wonder why S.H.I.E.L.D. just has the Avengers caged in a boring office building when they could actually be being superheroes somewhere else. Oh well, what do I know?) They still loved to joke about Steve being into me and since they didn't know about me dating Loki, they loved to carry on about me liking Steve as well.

That day I had been antagonized by both Tony and Clint; Tony had been called in for the Avengers meeting that I had been conveniently left out of. "Is Steve bringing you your work now?" asked Tony. I rolled my eyes and rolled towards him and Clint in my office chair.

"He can't do me a favor now?" I asked.

"I don't know why you keep denying this," said Clint, laughing to himself. "It's obvious to all of us."

"Well, it's obvious to me that you're desperate to sleep with Natasha and she's not giving you the time of day."

"Ouch!" said Tony. Clint had turned a bit red in the face.

"See? Two can play this game," I said, smiling.

"Seriously Charlotte, you're trying to turn this around on me because you wanna deny how hot you are for Steve!" said Clint. I started laughing.

"Who even says stuff like that, Clint? Is that a phrase anymore?"

"I don't hear you denying it." I opened my mouth to respond but just rolled back to my cube instead. I couldn't win against the dynamic duo.

"Why should I deny something that is so clearly not true? Ya'll just can't handle how great of friends me and Steve are. You won't ever have that with Natasha, Clint." I kept my face focused on the computer screen in front of me and one of my hands gripping the keyboard, the other having a death grip on the mouse. These conversations with them about Steve always made me feel incredibly nervous.

"Don't diss Clint's already damaged pride!" said Tony.

"Have you thought about actually going out on a date with Steve?" asked Clint, raising his eyebrows. I turned my head, almost getting whiplash. I'm sure my face showed the immediate shock. "I could definitely set you up."

"I- uh- I-" Clint and Tony were clearly happy with my response, getting the flustered expression they so desperately wanted.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Clint, attempting to high five Tony.

"I can't do that, Clint, so just forget it," I said, finally mustering up a solid answer, confused as to why it had taken me this long. It should've been easy to deny, given how great everything was going with Loki.

"Why not?" he asked, raising his eyebrows again. My hands were starting to sweat. I couldn't very well say that I actually already had a boyfriend.

"Steve totally doesn't like me in that way so I wish you would stop otherwise. Do you taunt him like this?" I asked.

"We don't have to," said Tony. "He does it all on his own."

At that moment, they rolled away upon seeing Steve across the room. I turned to see him walking towards my cube and I suck down in my office chair, with my heart pounding. I rubbed my hands down my face in stress. What was going on with me? I knew Tony and Clint were watching me have this mini meltdown but I almost didn't care.

Then I saw a group of files drop beside my office computer and I took a deep breath and looked up to see Steve, all tall and blonde and brawn. He had on that brown leather jacket I liked so much. I figured he must have been burning up in that thing; I know I would have. Then again, maybe he realized just how great he looked in that thing. "Thanks," I whispered, looking back down at the files, praying he might just go sit down across the room and stop torturing me without being aware of it.

"Coulson wants these within the hour," he said. I nodded, still trying to not look at him. I've mentioned before how much Steve looked like a superhero on a regular basis and today was no exception. "Were you planning on going out tonight?"

"I-I can't tonight. I'm sorry." Damn, what if going out with him alone was like a date to him? I had never thought of that before. No, he doesn't like me. We're totally just friends and that's normal.

I didn't mean to be bitchy with Steve but today Tony and Clint had really gotten to me. I watched him out of the corner of my eye move to sit in the cubicle beside mine. My breathing was getting out of control. What if I was legitimately going insane? I mean, that's a possibility because there is no real reason to be acting that way. I saw Steve look at me and I tried to smile but then I thought, what if that gives him the wrong idea?

Within a few minutes, Steve had rolled his own chair right beside mine, making our legs touch. I felt my face getting hot and I ran my hand through my hair that Loki apparently loved so. "Are you alright?" he asked. I froze because I totally wasn't okay and apparently, I wasn't hiding it very well.

"I'm fine. It's just stress and all, as usual," I said back, mustering a bit of a nervous laugh at the end.

"Oh, you were just acting odd. Well, you'll get to go home after those files since we have the meeting."

"Uh huh," I said, nodding, keeping my head looking down. Our. Legs. Were. Touching. I couldn't focus. Didn't he notice? Did he care? Oh gosh, it was official, I was certifiable. This was normal because we were comfortable with each other. It wasn't the first time we'd touched like this and hadn't moved away. Why was it bothering me now? Why was I so nervous? It's not like Loki would ever know about this and besides, there's nothing to even tell him other than that I have a friend.

We said a few more things and then he rolled back, smiling at his computer. Computers delighted him more than most things simply because there was nothing at all like them from the 1940s. It was the thing he liked the most from this time period.

I found myself looking over at him more often than I usually did. Maybe looking at him so much during the day was the reason I wasn't finishing my work. I half did the files and then gave them to Natasha. I grabbed my usual huge purse and took one last longing look at Steve. Maybe Tony and Clint were somewhat right. What the hell was I doing? I could stand here and stare at a beautiful blonde built like a god or I could go home and sleep with a guy who actually is one.

I chose the second option. Tonight was going to be it, I was pretty positive.

I went through the motions, still incredibly nervous, though now it was because I was unintentionally planning some kind of sex date. Maybe I was doing this for the wrong reasons; trying to put Steve out of my head was no reason to sleep with Loki. But wanting to sleep with Loki overpowered all of my other thoughts.

I set the salad on the table and had dinner with him, staring at him the way I had done to Steve earlier. How did he always slick his hair back like that? Had I ever bought him hair gel? How did we get the same eye color? Then my mind went back to the usual question I had about Loki; why was he even doing this? How he could he want to be with someone like me?

I pushed the lettuce around on my plate and barely ate any of it.

We sat on the couch on separate ends from each other, which was an unusual occurrence nowadays, watching TV. I don't remember the show we were watching or much of anything besides my occasionally staring at Loki and thinking of how gorgeous he was. Finally Loki broke and asked, "Charlotte, are you doing alright? You've barely spoken this evening." Gosh, I loved to hear him talk. He still had yet to adjust to Earth fully and it was endearing.

"I'm fine. Work is just-" Filled with time with a guy who I'm clearly attracted to? At an agency that wants to kidnap you? What answer could I have? "Work is just full of stress."

"You know what relieves stress?" he asked saucily, raising those perfectly arched eyebrows. My heart pounded. Here it was. This was it.

"Show me," I said. It was already late but I didn't care. This was happening and I was nervous and excited at the same time.

He stood and so did I and he bent down to kiss me. I loved the feeling of kissing him; how cold he was compared to me. It was the perfect balance. I felt him run his hands down my arms and I started smiling unconsciously in the middle of kissing him. I moved to pull at his shirt but I just ended up feeling underneath it, running my fingers along his fantastic skin. Loki unbuttoned my blouse and then eventually, it was off. I wasn't as embarrassed as I figured I might've been. Then I pulled his shirt off and we went back to kissing roughly, gripping the back of each other's heads. He moved to kissing my neck and I sighed openly. He was great in every aspect of the word.

He paused while I had been pushed against the wall as we'd been sloppily making our way back to my room. "Your skin is so warm," he breathed, like he was surprised and I smiled again.

Then as things were beginning to get heated, I heard something far off in the distance. "What was that?" I whispered. It sounded like it had the night when I found Loki. He appeared to not care what the noise was. Then right before we finally got to the bedroom, I heard my phone ringing. It was so late, who could it possibly be? "I've got to get that," I said, pushing away from Loki, unfortunately. I rummaged through my purse and pulled out my phone. It was Steve. Is this a joke, God? "Hello?" I said, answering the phone while out of breath.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked first off. I nodded as if he could see it.

"Oh yeah, it's nothing. What's going on? It's really late."

"They just found him."

"They found who?" I asked, looking over at Loki who for once had a bit of pink to his face.

"They found Thor." Steve went on to mention it was right near my house and that S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to find him now. With my hands shaking, I thanked him and said I would be out there to meet him. I hung up and stood, now desperately aware of the fact that I was half dressed and so was Loki. Loki was standing there, clearly disappointed our romp had been interrupted.

"They found Thor," I whispered, not totally believing it myself. I watched Loki become rigid and I unconsciously moved to cover my bra and stomach.


	12. Chapter 12

**This first part is in third person. Thank you for all of the feedback and story alerts and favorites. As usual, I only own Charlotte.**

"Are you okay?" Charlotte asked, moving past Loki in a daze to reach the bedroom and change into casual clothes. Loki didn't seem to want to respond and only followed her into the room.

"I didn't believe he was going to be found," he said, which was certainly true.

"I didn't much believe it myself." She no longer appeared to have any amount of modesty and she changed clothes right there with him in the room. Perhaps she was simply in shock, after all, she had been positive that Thor would never return. He looked at all of that warm skin he hadn't gotten the chance to touch. "I'm sorry but I have to go." As Charlotte moved around the house, grabbing things she might need, Loki was just moving about in daze, following her with his hair tousled. She didn't even remember touching his hair. As Charlotte grabbed her keys, she turned to him again. "Seriously, are you okay? If you're worried about me mentioning you to him, I won't do that. I respect what you want." Loki knew the problem didn't lie with Charlotte. She wouldn't betray any amount of trust of his. She blindly cared for him. Loki was more concerned about the things Thor would say about his falling off the bridge. There was no doubt Charlotte's company… what was it called? S.H.I.E.L.D. would tell Thor about the helmet and the false hope it had given them. Then Charlotte might be exposed to the things he had done and failed to mention to her. He had known Thor returning would be the catalyst for his plan going into action and he'd made many preparations during the days he left. For all her curiosity, Charlotte never pressed him for information on what he had been doing; that only served to make him actually feel guilty about it.

"Everything is fine," he finally responded. It certainly wasn't fine but she wouldn't leave unless reassured.

"Are you sure? Please talk to me about stuff, Loki." She pleaded with those big eyes and once again, when he looked at her, he was unsure whether she was a woman or a girl.

"They'll notice if you're not on time. We can speak later." She sighed, defeated as she usually was whenever she asked him a personal question. Then she whipped her auburn hair, that dark gorgeous color that Loki was so jealous of, and Charlotte walked out of the house. Loki knew for certain that it was one of the last times he would ever see her.

-Charlotte-

I knew something was up with Loki. I'm not the naïve mortal he seems to think I am. I jerked open the door to my Jeep, still in shock over where I was going. Tony had texted me their location. We were probably going to confuse the living daylights out of this guy with all of us there.

I kept my eyes focused on the road ahead of me while my mind moved at a mile a minute. Did this have anything to do with where Loki would go for a couple days at a time? Seriously, what did I know? He never revealed much to me and usually, I was abnormally fine with it; certainly, I was more accepting of it than the average person would be.

Soon I could see lights in the distance in the desert, no doubt where S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up tents and everything else needed. I parked my Jeep along with the other vehicles and slowly got out, my lack of sleep suddenly getting to me. How was I even acting this normally when I had almost had sex with the god of mischief? I almost had an aneurysm when Steve's leg had accidentally brushed mine earlier. My brain obviously needed to sort out its priorities.

Speaking of Steve, he was the first Avenger I laid eyes on so I went to stand with him. "Sorry I had to wake you," he said. I nervously laughed because I was nowhere near sleeping. "Honestly, I have no idea why they wanted to alert everyone and make them come out here. We'll probably just confuse the poor guy more than he already is."

"That's exactly what I thought on the drive over," I said back. "Where's Jane?"

"I actually don't think she's out here." I raised my eyebrows while I looked up at him. Why the hell wouldn't they want her out here? "I think they wanted us to talk to Thor before she had the chance to, which is lousy considering how much she's done for us."

"I take it that it wasn't her tunnel that brought him here?" Steve shook his head.

"All I know is that it wasn't because of anything Jane created. They haven't said anything else." That really was lousy. If anyone deserved to be out here, it was her. She spent so much time trying to get to Asgard to get to Thor and now that he's here, they didn't even call her? Sometimes I wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D. was really the right side to be on.

"It's a shame that it wasn't because of her that he got to come back. She worked long and hard on that thing." Steve nodded at me and I looked away from him. His eyes were really pretty and he just looked too sweet.

"What are you two up to?" I heard Tony ask, walking towards us. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not in the mood right now, Tony," I responded. "But if you wouldn't mind answering a question, are we just supposed to stand here and wait for one of ya'll to tell us something to do?"

Tony shrugged. "It's beyond me why they even bothered to call all of us out here. I need my beauty rest. Couldn't we meet the god of thunder tomorrow?" I laughed a little.

"He's the one who probably needs the rest," said Steve. I knew Thor wasn't hurt and better yet, he probably wasn't even tired. Loki hadn't been either of those when I found him.

"We're only going to confuse him. They didn't even bother to tell Jane," said Tony. "Can you believe that? I spent so much money on that project and she's not even here to see him."

"Didn't they tell you that it's not even because of that that he's here?" asked Steve.

"Then I wasted a bucket load of money on a dead end."

"Oh please," I said, "like you can't make anymore. But seriously, why couldn't she be here for this? I didn't think Jane minded S.H.I.E.L.D. recruiting him to the Avengers. Besides, that's not even her call to make."

"Oh, don't play dumb, Charlotte," said Tony. "You know S.H.I.E.L.D. was using her to get to Thor. Now that they've got him, she better go back to her day job." Steve looked confused by the accusation but Tony was right, I had known that. I'd had my suspicions from day one. Steve was just, like I said, too sweet and nice to believe that the company might take advantage of someone like that; especially someone as great as Jane had been to us. It shocked me too but clearly, it didn't ruffle Tony. He was a business magnate and he knew how things like this went. "It's not like it was her goal to work with us anyway. She was going to work on that with or without our help. I guess Jane just decided that my money was better to spend than hers."

"Can you blame her?" I asked. After a few more minutes of standing there, Phil walked by and gestured that we could finally move close enough to see Thor out in the distance. The three of us moved to stand with the other Avengers, Natasha, Bruce, and Clint. Other agents were around us. I caught a glimpse of a flash in the distance and I knew it was Thor in a great metallic outfit just like Loki's. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s huge lights were reflecting off of him and the agent with him, who I could only assume was Nick Fury. Then I could tell they were beginning to walk back over to the tents set up here. Why they had set up tents was beyond me; probably some desperate attempt at making sure no one but government officials were able to come here.

"You seem nervous," observed Tony and I was. This was Thor, Loki's adopted brother and one he wasn't on good terms with. Of course, I was nervous.

"I was nervous the day I met you too," I responded. I flashed back to the day I had been introduced to Tony Stark. It had been two years ago at the set off of the Avengers Initiative and Tony was the first outside recruit. I was already familiar with Clint and Natasha. In fact, Clint and I were in talks to date. I'm glad I dodged that bullet. The first time I met him, it was to strictly give us access to his suit. He had been judged unfit for the teamwork the Avengers would require so we were only getting access to the suit. I had been sweating bullets when we sat down one on one and he seemed sad to be giving up some of his technology. That conversation was the only non-joking conversation I've ever had with Tony and I did my best to convince Fury and Phil to let him on the team. Eventually they gave in and eventually I found out why they thought he couldn't work with others.

I stared out in the desert and as they moved closer, I could tell it was Fury who was with him. I caught a glimpse of a helmet and another of blonde hair. He was taller than Fury and my guess is that he might've been taller than Loki or Steve, which I had thought was nigh impossible. I moved to stand with other agents who weren't on the Avengers team and knew that I probably wouldn't get introduced to him tonight. That was fine but I wish I had been able to stay at home.

I watched as Thor was introduced to each of the Avengers. He had removed his helmet upon entering the makeshift camp. He was wearing a great outfit framed with a red cape and had his hammer hanging in his left hand, brushing the side of his leg. I immediately recognized why Loki was so jealous of him. Thor was gorgeous, much like Loki, just in a different way. I could tell he had a jovial manner to him that Loki obviously didn't possess. He was brawny and burly where clearly, Loki was not. Thor was blonde and light where Loki was dark. It appalled me that anyone could've thought they were siblings at all. I understood why Loki was so jealous when I looked at Thor and I felt sorrier for him than I had before. Thor was so beautiful and was exactly what one would picture a god to look like. I knew Loki had strengths different from the obvious muscle of Thor but that didn't change how he must've felt.

Once Thor had spoken to Bruce, I heard Fury say that they were going to take Thor back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility for tonight only. I guessed it was to make him answer menial questions that he could answer tomorrow after he had slept. Tony immediately began walking towards his car that had a driver for him, no doubt. Clint began to walk towards one of the tents with Natasha on his heels and Bruce dispatched as well. Steve was, of course, making his way towards me so I began to walk too.

But I paused before I got very far. Thor was nearing me now as well and he was staring at me like he knew. I shivered involuntarily. That was impossible, he couldn't know anything. He couldn't even realize that Loki was on Earth yet. "Who are you?" he asked in a booming voice as he arrived directly in front of me. He was much too close to me; there couldn't have been three inches between us. I gulped and looked up at him. I also noticed that most people hadn't walked far enough away to ignore our exchange. Tony had turned around, hearing Thor's deep voice. Steve had stopped in his tracks, downright confused. Clint poked his head out of one of the tents.

"I'm Charlotte," I whispered nervously. I saw Fury intensely staring at us.

"Charlotte, why don't you take him back to the office and then you can go home?" I heard him call. He could be such an ass. He knew this conversation wasn't normal and he wanted to capitalize on it.

I nodded, still staring up at Thor. Thor didn't seem angry with me, just curious, but he was being completely serious. He wanted answers from me and I just knew he wanted them on Loki. "You remember what cars are?" I asked. He nodded down at me. "Okay, come with me." I turned nervously and walked slowly with Thor following behind me. That was when Steve finally caught up with me.

"What was that about?" he whispered down to me.

"I dunno. I'm kinda nervous about it, actually."

"You don't have to take him. I'll tell Coulson-"

"No, it'll be fine. Please don't worry. I'll tell you if there's anything weird." He made a face down at me but walked over to his motorcycle anyway. Then Thor moved in front of me and opened my door to the Jeep before I could reach it. "Thank you," I said, still squeamish about the whole thing. He got extremely close to me again. He obviously had no idea that I had personal space.

"I apologize if I've made you nervous," he said down to me.

"It's totally fine. Come on, I'll drive you." He shut my door once I was inside and he got in the passenger side. He paused before he got in and I became nervous again. Did he realize Loki had been here with me? I'm going insane, he's probably just never been inside a Jeep Cherokee before. Thor was silent as I began driving back into town, just occasionally looking at me.

"Do you know Jane?" he finally asked. I nodded.

"She's been trying to reach you for a long time. She'll be ecstatic to see you."

"Why wasn't she there?"

"I don't know. She should've been."

"What do you know about me?" He was genuinely asking and I didn't want to lie to him.

"I know a lot about you, thanks to Jane." And your estranged brother, no big. "Why did you want to know who I was?" I felt like I was tiptoeing out on ice and it was cracking.

"I knew I could trust you." I sighed. That was a really good sign. He may have thought he could trust me because of Loki subconsciously but he didn't seek me out strictly because of that.

"I'm glad that you do." How could Loki be angry at Thor? He didn't appear to have done anything. "How did you get here?"

"They built a new Bifrost. I destroyed the other because of Loki, my brother." I nodded and gulped. Thor turned his head to look at me further. "Loki, the one who sent the Destroyer." He did know. There was no doubt.

"I'm familiar," I whispered.


	13. Chapter 13

The rest of the ride with Thor had been incredibly awkward because I had been petrified that he was going to call me out, even though there was no possible way he could know that Loki was here. Let alone, that Loki would be here with me.

I pulled up in front of my house and wondered what I would have to say to Loki. Loki had been obviously upset by the development with Thor and I had no idea why. It's not like he would offer up information on it anyway. Why do I even bother trying to ask? I went inside the house and was still shaken by what had happened.

As I moved toward the bedroom, I didn't even bother getting into pajamas. I just crawled into bed beside Loki and he made a noise. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked, as if I'd been here the longest time without saying anything.

"Can't we talk later? I'm tired," I responded, which wasn't a lie.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "What did he say to you? You're obviously nervous about something."

I rolled onto my back and sighed. What was the use of pretending everything was fine if he could just somehow figure out what was up? "Everything was fine at first and I wasn't going to get to meet him tonight. He was just introduced to a few people and then as we were leaving, Thor came up to me and demanded to know who I was. Then I had to drive him somewhere and he made a sly comment about you and I thought for certain he knew I had you. But how could he know something like that? It's made me paranoid."

"We were raised to be brothers and Thor is… not exactly happy with me right now." Loki sounded nonchalant about the whole thing but I could tell Thor being here was upsetting him.

"All he mentioned about you was that you had sent the Destroyer and that isn't new. My whole office swears that. I figured maybe he was trying to turn me against you if he was getting the feeling you were here."

"Will they mention that they have my helmet?" I flipped on my side to face him fully. He was so beautiful.

"I have no doubt that they will. Any way to have Thor work with them." I rolled my eyes. S.H.I.E.L.D. was so obsessed with Thor. "I guess you're thinking from there, Thor will be able to put the pieces together and realize you're here?"

"It seems to me that he already knows that." I pressed my lips together.

"I'll do my best to make sure that he doesn't know anything. You can totally trust me." He seemed troubled and I didn't understand why.

"I know that I can trust you." I smiled at him and then we fell asleep. A few days passed with Loki seeming to want to be around me most, if not all the time, when I was home. As far as I understood it, Phil Coulson and Fury had pretty much guaranteed that Thor would work with the Avengers. I didn't think he understood exactly what he was expected to do but I knew that if there was a threat soon, he wouldn't shy away. Luckily, Thor was never in the office cubicles for very long and whenever he was there, he was extremely nice to me. He kindly asked me questions about the work I was doing and if I could tell him what some "Midgard expression" meant. I wasn't sure why Jane wasn't qualified to tell him common sense things but as we all know, explaining things to people like they are children is a talent of mine.

"Thor took to you quickly," mentioned Clint one day as Thor walked away from my cube. I shrugged. Between him, Steve, and Tony, I never got a minute to think about anything other than Thor. I was sure the other Avengers talked about him just as much but Clint, Steve, and Tony were my cube neighbors. "I mean, he barely speaks to any one of us but he just has conversations with you."

"I think you're mistaking the word 'conversation' with the word 'question,' because what our 'conversations' consist of are mindlessly stupid questions," I said. "'What are you working on, Charlotte?' 'Why do they call it peanut butter?' 'What's Dr. Pepper?' 'What does it mean to let the cat out of the bag?' I mean, bless his heart, he's a great guy but I thought he'd been on Earth before. I'm sorry but why is it my job to explain everything? Isn't Jane his girlfriend?" Clint raised his eyebrows.

"I was under the impression you _loved _to do stuff like that."

"Well, I don't mind usually but I have so much work to do and it's literally all the time. We never have a conversation about anything, it's just the question, the answer, and then he's off to bond with Fury."

"That's probably why he likes you so much. You answer all his questions. So your track record with that is two for two." Three for three, actually, if we were keeping score.

I leaned towards Clint and whispered, "Can you shut the hell up?" I gestured with my head behind me where Steve was sitting at his computer. Clint and Tony were to the point that they would tease while he was sitting right beside me. Steve already felt like Clint and Tony didn't want to work with him; I certainly didn't want him to know anything that they had been saying. Luckily, Tony was back at Stark Industries for the week. Nothing had been cemented with Thor so it had bought me more time with Loki. I think he was conscious of the fact that we would have to move soon so he had become almost obsessed with being around me. I enjoyed the attention more than I wanted to admit. The attention also made me nervous.

Clint laughed at me. "Seriously, you guys are my entertainment when I'm here." I rolled my eyes. Then Clint got up and walked to the elevator. He was being sent out to show Thor around town and try to convince him further than Phil or Fury had.

I went back to work for a normal day. "Hey Steve, did Phil say when he wanted me to bring Thor's official file to him?" I asked without looking up. I had filled in his file with the exact location we found Thor, his reaction to us, and the probability of him officially joining the team.

"I think he wants it any time. You could give it to him now," he said, looking over. He was wearing a button up shirt today. Why did he own such form fitting clothing? This must be the way men feel when they're objectifying women. I stood up with the file just to get away from how nice Steve looked. It was my usual habit of escape. That and trying to make sure we were never alone together.

I flipped through the papers while standing and then I looked up. The file fell out of my hands and its papers scattered on the floor. My throat went dry. I felt glued in place and I knew I couldn't speak. I barely noticed as Steve had picked up the file for me and asked if I was alright. I wasn't alright.

Loki was being walked in front of the cubicles to, no doubt, a holding room by Phil and other men. He was in full Asgardian attire, with the green billowing cape and all, with handcuffs on his wrist that looked as if he had them built into the outfit. Loki looked the part of the villain and I knew he had done something, no matter how gorgeous he might be. He looked at me and made a smirking face that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, almost scared of him. What has he done? Soon he was walked out of sight and my heart pounded.

"Charlotte, are you okay?" I turned and snapped out of the trance I'd been in. My hands were shaking as I took the file from Steve.

"I… uh… Who was that?" I asked, deciding to play dumb.

"They just sent me an email actually but seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine… just a little freaked, I guess." I couldn't begin to think of an appropriate response. I couldn't think at all. "What was in the email?"

"You can't say anything to Thor but it's his brother." I nodded. "They caught him out in town this morning and he had killed people. They said in the email that the attack was reminiscent of what happened with the Destroyer which of course, none of us were here for."

"What? He killed people? With what? How? I don't understand." I knew I was being suspicious but if I could act that way around anyone, it was Steve.

"They didn't mention anything specific besides that he openly admitted the attack was because he knew Thor was in town."

"Why didn't I get sent this email? Why isn't anyone acting like this is a big deal?" I demanded. The other Avengers I were around acted as if nothing was happening, like they hadn't received the email at all. Natasha and Bruce were working on something near the front of the cubes and of course, Clint had gone out with Thor. Wait… that explained so much. S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't want Thor to know Loki was here.

"We suspected from the helmet and we're under orders to not cause a panic. I only told you because you were already in one." I sat down on my chair and was positive my breathing had stopped. "He's lethal. They think he'll want to do more damage than to this desert town. We're lucky we caught him."

"How did they capture him?" I asked, wondering how anyone was able to contain Loki. Steve was right, he was lethal. Nothing about this was adding up.

"Apparently, it was relatively easy. They're calling Tony now and we're gonna have a meeting about what to do."

"What do you mean, what to do?"

"Sending him back to Asgard is one of the only options we have."

"What are the others?" I asked, knowing that Loki wouldn't want to return to Asgard.

"I don't know." I openly put my head in my hands. Why would Loki openly kill anyone? How could he get caught? Why was he doing this? There was some sort of mistake, even though I knew deep down there hadn't been one. I saw Loki in his regalia and I had seen the look on his face. He was up to something. He was truly being the trickster god. This was why he'd been acting odd and been obsessively trying to be with me. He had planned this. "He can't get out, Charlotte," Steve said, like he thought I was terrified of Loki. I had to admit that after seeing the look of thrill on his face, I was quite scared of him.

Then I stood and grabbed Thor's file again. "Thanks, Steve," I said. "Since it's so late, I guess I'll go home after I give this to Phil."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow when we have the meeting on this. I'll make sure you're included this time." I laughed a bit. Steve knew how I felt about being left out of Avengers meetings but I knew I wouldn't be at the one tomorrow. The meeting tomorrow would be about what to do with me.

I walked away from Steve and felt bad. I didn't want him to know what I was about to do. I walked into Phil's office and gave him the file. "Thanks, Charlotte, I appreciate this." I nodded down at him, running my eyes along his desk and finally spotting his set of keys. He had a key for everything that locked here in the building. He could even come in in the middle of the night.

"I saw that we have a prisoner now," I mentioned, watching as Phil turned around in his office chair to put the file away. I covertly covered his keys with my hand and let my purse slide down my arm. I knocked them in once he began speaking, to cover up the noise.

"Yes," he responded. "I take it Steve told you who he was?" I nodded nervously, not wanting Steve to get in trouble.

"Well, whatever you do, don't mention it to Thor. We don't want him to know yet. He might overreact." Overreact he might, but Thor had a right to know.

"Are you sure he's secure?" I asked, pressing for Loki's location in the building.

"We're positive." I nodded. Having his keys in my purse felt like a bowling ball and I needed to leave before I chickened out. I hated doing this to Phil. As I've said, he basically got me my job and our professional relationship is one of the best things I have. I didn't want to sabotage it. I even called him Phil when everyone else called him Coulson. But he wasn't the only agent here that I would hurt.

I walked down the hallway trying to detect where Loki might be. _I'll get you out, I promise you. _I walked in front of the cubes and nodded at Natasha and Bruce then I saw Steve and I almost stopped. I decided to walk towards my cube just to see him up close again. Steve had been my only real friend since I began working for S.H.I.E.L.D. If I did this, I would lose him and worse than that, I would hurt him. Seeing him made me feel like throwing the keys back towards Phil and spilling my guts about Loki. But I had to do this for Loki. I knew there was a mistake.

I unconsciously picked up a pen from my desk and realized it would probably be the last time I would around it. I glanced at Clint and Tony's cubes. I got a bit choked up. "Are you doing better than you were earlier?" I heard Steve ask. I turned to look at him. That parted blonde hair and those blue eyes could be the death of me and I wondered what my life would've ended up being if I'd never met Loki. I would probably be dating Steve.

"I'm totally fine," I replied. "Thanks for uh, worrying about me." I bit my lip unconsciously. He laughed a bit.

"Any time." I tried to smile at him but those keys were like a weight and I needed to go.

"I'm heading out," I said.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded. "You bet." Then I walked as fast as I could to the elevator and my Jeep. Once I buckled in, I openly sobbed. My purse was open in the passenger's seat, showing the all opening keys from Phil's office. I would break in with them and get Loki out. It wasn't a full proof plan but I needed to do it.

I got home and got into some jeans and a t-shirt. I threw a kitchen knife and some office clothes in my purse just in case. The more I began to think about it, the more confident I was that I could get Loki out without getting condemned myself. All I had to do was swipe the cameras and put the keys back. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

At 3am, I arrived outside the office building and grabbed my purse. This was it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Now the action begins. As usual, I own nothing except Charlotte. Thanks for all of the feedback. Please continue to tell me how you feel.**

I shuffled through the keys in my hand and opened the front door. These keys could literally do anything. I walked in and up to the floor where the cubicles were. Loki had to be on this floor, otherwise why had he stalked through with those men? I held the keys tightly in my hand as I slowly realized that there were probably guards posted outside of Loki's room.

I poked my head around the corner of the hallway and saw no one. That was impossible. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't stupid. Why weren't they actively trying to keep him contained? Then another idea occurred to me; Loki had made them go away with one of his many tricks. But unfortunately, he'd made it much harder on me. I began franticly gripping the door handles, knowing the one in front of him would be locked. Many doors opened upon my touch but then I gripped one and without even turning it, I knew it was locked. The knob was freezing. "Loki," I whispered. I heard something behind the door and I dropped to my knees, automatically going through the keys, assessing the size of the lock. I wasn't a researcher at S.H.I.E.L.D. for nothing.

Finally, I heard the lock move with one of the last keys on the ring. I sighed and pushed the door open. I stood up slowly and felt along the wall for a light switch. The room was clearly meant to be a trick from the outside. It was supposed to appear as a regular office but inside, it was a huge holding room. I finally turned on some lights and I was almost blinded by how bright they were. When my eyes adjusted, I saw Loki strapped to a chair in the middle of the room, the only piece of furniture there. He looked at me, pale and beautiful and smiling. He seemed far too happy to be here. I thought it was weird but I tried not to focus on anything other than getting him untied.

I pulled out the knife I'd brought from my sparse kitchen and ran and got on my knees, putting the knife to whatever they'd tied him up with. It certainly wasn't rope. While I was cutting, Loki turned to me. "Charlotte," he breathed. I turned, practically dropping the knife. "I can get out on my own when I wish. I gave myself up to get to Thor."

"You can't get to Thor, you know that," I whispered, going back to work. "He's with S.H.I.E.L.D. now. They won't let you touch him."

"You have no idea what I'm capable of." I didn't even have to look at him to know he was narrowing his emerald eyes down at me.

"You're damn straight. But right now, I need you to get out!" I dropped the knife and pulled the "rope" away from him. I still had no idea what they'd tied him up with.

"Will you get in trouble for this?" he asked. I stood up as he did. I knew I would. I'd thought about all of the trouble I'd get in earlier today. I'd cried in the car on the way home thinking about it. I loved the people here. But now that I'd thought of swiping the security cameras, I would get in less trouble if I just got Loki out and was able to hide him somewhere. But I honestly hadn't let him killing people sink in yet.

"I don't care if I do," I responded. Loki looked down and touched my face. Again, I thought he seemed troubled and now I knew he was planning something else. There was no point to setting him free; he was still going to try to sabotage Thor.

Then he bent forward and kissed me and all of my resolve went away. He pushed me through the door and kept kissing me until we'd reached the cubes. "I might love you," he said as I pushed Clint's papers on the floor.

"What did you say?" I asked as he cut me off, kissing me forcefully again.

"Well, if someone like me can ever love someone like you," he replied, hungrily kissing my neck. Now that comment sounded more like him.

"Then I love you back," I responded and we kissed again. Then all of a sudden, he pulled back. "What is it?" I whispered. Hell, we really did need to leave. Who knows where the guards actually were?

"I'm actually sorry about what I'm about to do," Loki said, staring down at me. He appeared sad but he also appeared frightening and I backed away on instinct. I looked down and an arrow appeared to materialize in his hands; one of Clint's arrows. I didn't have time to think before the arrow was through my hip. I shrieked in pain.

He hadn't even actually stabbed it into me. The arrow had just left his hand. I made a noise as I looked down and touched the wound, seeing the blood. I looked up to try to run from Loki but I noticed he was gone. What the hell? Another of his tricks, I suppose. I tried to move while putting pressure on the front part of the wound.

The arrow had gone fully through, sticking out on either side. I wasn't sure that he hadn't punctured an organ, the pain was so severe. This arrow was different than any of the rest of Clint's. Loki had done something to it. I prayed it wasn't some charm to make sure that I couldn't pull it out. I gripped the wall of Clint's cube and moved forward a bit. I wanted to get to the bathroom to get a better look at it. How could I hide a wound this bloody? How could I be expected to pull this out? I couldn't do any of this by myself. I didn't even want to begin to comprehend what happened with Loki. This injury was the most imperative thing right now.

I ended up falling right past Tony's cubicle while trying to make my way to the bathroom. The arrow pushed through me more and I yelped in pain. There was no possible way I could do this alone. I still had to swipe the cameras if I had any chance at all of getting away with this and I couldn't do that at all now that I was injured and S.H.I.E.L.D. was about to open in two hours. As I pushed myself up, I openly sobbed. I needed help. I was hurt, I was betrayed, and I didn't trust anyone.

Wait… yes, I did. Steve would help me. I grabbed one of the cube walls and kept one hand moving along them with the other trying to stop my bleeding. I was gasping in pain. Once I reached mine and Clint's cubes, I dropped to my knees and started searching through that huge purse for a phone. Once I found it, I looked through my contacts until I found Steve Rogers. I was close to crying as I heard the phone ringing and then groggily, I heard him pick up. "Hello?" he said. If I hadn't been lying on the floor, injured, I might've been able to appreciate how fantastic he sounded when he just woke up.

"Steve, it's Charlotte-" Before I could finish, he cut me off.

"Are you okay? Where are you? You sound terrible."

"I'm in the building at S.H.I.E.L.D. Can you come help me? And please tell no one. I'm injured and I can only trust you. And if you could bring me a shirt, please. I'll never ask you for anything again but please help me right now."

"I'll be right there." I threw my phone back in my purse and grabbed a chair to pull myself up. I put my bag on my cube desk and looked at the mess Loki and I had made at Clint's desk. His papers were all over the floor. I couldn't fix that, not while hurting this badly.

It wasn't long and I heard Steve coming in. I leaned against a cube wall and then he saw me. He dropped whatever he'd been holding and ran towards me. I stared at his gorgeous golden hair and blue eyes as he pulled me into him. I moaned as he accidentally put pressure on the wound. "What is it? What happened?" he asked. I gripped one of his arms and he tried to steady me.

"Loki hurt me," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I moved to show him Clint's arrow. "I need to get it out and bandage it before work. I can go to the hospital afterwards."

"What are you talking about? You need to go there now. It looks bad; I'll be honest with you." I looked down and sure enough, it did look bad. Blood was starting to run onto my jeans and the pain was only increasing. I had office pants in my purse which I had luckily put in just in case. I reached and grabbed the bag.

"Steve, I really need you to not say anything about this today. What I need you to do is help me pull this out and swipe the security camera tapes." He looked down at me, a little worried.

"What exactly are you doing here? Where is Loki if he hurt you?" I could feel that I was about to cry and I knew Steve could tell.

"He's not here. He escaped after he hurt me."

"Why are you here at all?"

I paused. "To help him." I had been dreading the look Steve would give me and it was clear that I had been right in doing so. He looked like a dog that I had kicked or something. "Please, I- You don't get- You don't understand. He's not a bad person." I was beginning to doubt that but it still hadn't fully sunk in.

"He killed people, Charlotte."

"Are you saying you haven't?" Then I paused. "I'm sorry. I know it's not the same thing. I guess he did kill innocent people, didn't he?" A shock of pain went through my side. "Are you gonna help me or not?"

"Fine, I won't say anything. Let's go to the bathroom and we can pull that arrow out. But you have to promise me that you'll get it looked at after work… and you'll explain what you were doing with Loki."

"You've got a deal. Can you help me get there?" He nodded and took me there, babying my side. After what felt like a lifetime, I was finally standing in front of the bathroom mirror. I turned and got a good look at the injury. I began to tear at my shirt to get it away from the arrow. Steve seemed reluctant to let me do anything by myself or at least, without physically supporting me. Once I'd removed the shirt from around the area, I turned again and surveyed the arrow. The head of arrow was sticking out of my back so I would have to get Steve to pull it through that way. I knew pulling it against the grain wasn't a stellar idea.

I put my hands on the tail of the arrow and quickly snapped it off, screeching at the pain. Steve moved to help me and I turned showing him my back. "Pull it out. I can't do it." He offered me his left arm to hold onto and he bent to look at it.

"I can do it fast if it's not jagged and you never know with Clint's arrows." I looked up at the ceiling, more frustrated than anything.

"Jagged? He has _jagged _arrows?" I asked.

"He told me he does; to make it harder for the enemy to pull it out. Fortunately, it doesn't look like this one is."

"Thank goodness. So it can be bandaged?"

"Honestly, Charlotte, I don't know. I can bandage it but there's no telling about the bleeding. It went through you!" I started choking up again, terrified that I couldn't get through this day. "Hey," he said, touching my face, "hey, I'll get it out. I'll get you through this." My heart was pounding and I realized how close we were to each other.

"Then let's get it out." I kept hold of Steve's arm and leaned into him. The arrow hurt without him even touching it. I felt when he put his hand around it and I flinched. He automatically let go of it and even though I felt relief, I just wished it was over. "Just do it fast. I know it's gonna hurt."

"I'm so sorry," he said as he gripped it again. I dug my nails into the skin of his arm and unconsciously put my head against his chest. My breathing started getting rougher and I could feel myself beginning to sweat. All of a sudden, the pain increased tenfold and I slammed my other hand onto Steve's chest. I moved so that the top of my head was on his chest as well. I saw the part of the arrow in my front becoming smaller as it was being pulled through. I screamed and gripped his shirt with the hand on his chest. My hand on his arm was going numb from holding on so harshly. I gritted my teeth together to keep from screaming again and embarrassing myself further. Finally, I felt it go through all the way and my knees buckled at the relief.

I moved away from Steve, even though I didn't want to, and leaned against the sink. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I looked bad. There were dark circles under my eyes from where I hadn't slept at all. I had somehow managed to smear blood all over the t-shirt I had on and I had it on my face from unconsciously touching it, no doubt. My jeans were stained. Then of course, the wound itself looked rank. I saw Steve behind me, holding the arrow and blood all over him as well from where I had been touching him. "I'm sorry about your shirt," I whispered, still faint from the pain.

"It's fine. I brought another for you and for me." I nodded. Then I rummaged through my purse for some bandages. I always had a First Aid kit in there and unfortunately, I was finally using it.

"I think I'll be able to bandage the front if you can get the back," I said but I was about to puke as I was looking at it. It was a hole thru my body. Steve was right about the bleeding. I would have to bandage it again during the day. Maybe there was a way for me to get off early.

"No, I'll do them both. You look like you're about to faint. Maybe you should eat. That always helps." I hadn't even eaten dinner, I'd been so nervous about breaking in.

"I'll do it later." Then he went to work, moving my shirt away from obstructing bandaging it up. "Wait," I said, "this will make it easier." He moved away and I shed my shirt slowly. I could barely raise my arm above my head. "Is that easier for you?" I asked, even though I could look in the mirror and tell that it had unsettled him. "You've now officially seen me at my worst. Later we can just pretend that this didn't happen." I was glad I'd decided on a nice white bra. At least I looked somewhat attractive. "You're gonna have to help me get dressed too. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, sure, yeah." I saw that Steve was deliberately trying to look only at my injury and it made me feel like crying, he was so nice. He put pressure on it and I moaned at how sore it was. I handed the bandages behind me and he grabbed them. Soon my back was done so I turned and faced him. He was especially nervous now that my front was so close to him and it was beginning to make nervous too. I had a deep breath and then he bandaged that one and moved away from me quickly.

"I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable," I said, cleaning the area around the wound. This makeshift bandage job should hold for awhile. "Once you help me get dressed, I need you to help me swipe the cameras." He nodded and retrieved the shirts he'd brought. Once he came back, he immediately shed his own shirt. Now I was uncomfortable. I'd seen pictures of him shirtless in his file and even that had made me unsettled. I turned to look towards the wall. He had to realize how much he tortured me.

"Here," I heard him say so I turned back and he had his shirt ready for me. The arm on the side without the wound was in fine but moving my other arm made the pain worse. Steve helped get that one in and then I set to buttoning it up. All in all, for a big shirt, I could make it work so that it looked like a real outfit. I pulled out my office pants and then unbuttoned my jeans. At least the shirt would cover up my ass. I was able to take off the jeans while Steve paced around, staring at the ceiling. I laughed a little. "What?" he asked.

"You don't have to be so modest. This is a medical emergency and… I hate to ask you but I need help putting these on," I said, holding up the office pants. I put my feet in them and looked at him. "I'm worried about bending and the bandages tearing."

"I guess that's true." He helped me and I grabbed the belt loops of the pants once they were close enough to my hands. I tucked in his shirt and I was ready for work.

"I can't thank you enough for this," I said. "What happened hasn't really sunk in yet."

"How did he stab you?" I slyly smiled.

"He tricked me. As I'm told, he's very good at that."

"You are going to tell me everything, aren't you?"

"I was thinking after work?"

"And after the hospital?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, after the hospital. Although, you've taken care of me so well, I doubt I'll need to go."

"You need medicine." As a shock of pain went through my side, I decided I agreed with him. "I'll get the cameras. You can practice walking."

I nodded. "Okay, that sounds good. I'll just say I fell and hurt my leg so that's why I'm limping. All in all, that's a believable story."

"I'll take care of the cameras." He ran down the hallway towards the elevator, I assumed, and I began to slowly walk towards the cubicles. I kept one hand on the wall to steady myself. There was no way I'd be able to walk well today. I'd have to sit for the most part. Any movement on that side felt like it was killing me. This day was going to be rough.

Once I finally got to my cube, I checked the time on my phone and it was almost time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to open. Then it occurred to me that I still had Phil's keys. I grabbed them from my purse and walked slowly down the hallway to his office. I threw his keys on his desk and once I limped my way back to my cube, I was thoroughly exhausted. I slowly sat in my chair and realized that even sitting hurt. I would get through this.

I saw Steve dash back towards his cube beside mine. "I think I did it," he said skeptically. I put my head in my hands. I had let the guy who was frozen for 70 years deal with the technology. "It was digital but I deleted the stuff from between 1am and now."

"That's perfect. You did it perfectly."

"How are you feeling?"

"Doing anything at all hurts it," I said honestly.

"It's in an awkward place. It'll always get irritated." I nodded. Of course. "I saw Tony and Clint in the parking lot so are you okay with this?" I nodded again.

"I think I can do this. But I definitely want to be able to leave early."

"Well, you realize the meeting will be first thing this morning." Then I heard the doors of the elevator opening and we both shut up and booted up our computers. I looked in the monitor and tried to smooth down my hair and evaluate how badly I looked. I didn't care.

"What the hell happened to you?" demanded Clint, setting his stuff on his desk. "And why the hell are my papers everywhere?" I exchanged a look with Steve.

"I fell down last night so I'm kinda limping and I barely got any sleep. Who knows about your desk?" I said, nonchalantly.

"Your cousin didn't help you when you fell?" I paused. He remembered my cousin? Thank goodness he hadn't been here when they'd brought Loki in. Gosh, Loki. I hadn't even begun to think of that and I couldn't bear to while I was still at work.

"My cousin's back in Sweden," I said. He should be in hell.

"Damn, Charlotte, you look like you had a rough night," said Tony. You can say that again.

From there, the day seemed to be going normally. After a couple of hours, nothing had been said about Loki escaping and Steve confirmed that there had been no email to the Avengers alone about it. My guess is that they were trying to cover it up. I looked down at one point and knew that the blood was coming through. At least it was the part under my pants, which were black. I stood up and tilted my head to give Steve a sign that I was going to rebandage. Then it was like I had seen a ghost.

I gripped my computer monitor in shock as my breathing quickened. I saw Loki, standing at the front of the cubes, staring at me. I knew Steve saw him too. But he wasn't really here. It was one of those projections. He looked solemn and he mouthed at me, "I'm sorry." And I realized he was gone, I was slammed onto my desk with my arms yanked behind me. I screamed at the pain it was putting on my wound. Then I heard someone say, "You have the right to remain silent."


	15. Chapter 15

The next few minutes were some of the most surreal of my life. Whoever had forced me down onto my desk had now yanked me up and told me to put my hands in the air. I did so slowly.

"I'm sorry but what the hell is going on?" demanded Tony. "Are you arresting Charlotte?" Oh God, I was going to jail. I intently stared down at my computer, trying to avoid looking anywhere else. I didn't want to see Tony or the men arresting me and I definitely didn't want to risk seeing Loki again.

"What is she charged with?" asked Clint. "What the hell is going on?"

"She is charged with aiding a criminal escape," said one of the men now surrounding my cube. My heart was pounding. Of course, they found out somehow.

"You can't have proof of that!" said Tony.

"Oh, we have plenty of proof and you'll all see it at a meeting in an hour. Now let's move it, sweetheart," said the one behind me pushing me forcefully into the aisle. I stumbled forward but knew I couldn't walk very far normally.

"I'll go quietly but I am injured," I begged. "It's bad." I slowly let my hands drop and I untucked my shirt, lifting it to show the bandages on both sides of my hip. "He stabbed me."

"Fine, medical help first and then they'll have the meeting." I nodded and put my hands in the air again.

"Who stabbed you?" asked Clint. "Why the hell won't anyone-"

"It was Loki," I said, cutting him off. I didn't turn to look at Clint or Tony and I didn't want to see Steve. I was so worried that he would get in trouble for helping me. I slowly moved to a room down the hall where someone dressed my wound properly and put antibiotics on it. They said they would give me more later. That gave me hope for not going to jail, at least not so soon.

I moved down the hall farther and one of the men cuffed me. Then I was handed over to Phil. "We're putting you in a holding room until we discuss a plan for the meeting and then I'll come get you," he said to me. I nodded, staring through the one sided window into the holding room waiting for me.

"I'm really sorry, Phil," I said, still looking through the window, on the brink of tears. My life was really over.

"We'll talk about your punishment later. Fury will have to decide on that."

"I wish I could explain to you why I did it," I responded. The holding room looked so empty and like it was made for a criminal. I guess now I qualified as one.

"You don't have to explain. I know why and soon everyone else will." Before I could ask him what he was talking about, I caught a flash through the window to the holding room. I moved closer to it. "You won't be in there for very long. We just need to plan the meeting."

"Oh my God," I whispered. "He's in there."

"What are you talking about, Charlotte?"

"Phil, Loki is in that holding room!" I said. "I can't go in there. Please, you cannot make me go in there with him."

"Did you actually see him?"

"Yes! Now please, don't make me go in there. I will do whatever else you want but please don't make me be near him," I begged. Phil seemed to actually believe what I was saying. "He hurt me and he could do it again."

"If he's really there, it's only a projection. He wouldn't dare risk physically coming here." I opened my mouth to respond but ended up stuttering.

"Isn't a projection bad enough?"

"Charlotte, you're tired and you're injured, badly, I might add. It's all gone to your head. You could be hallucinating him."

"I honestly don't think that's what it is." It didn't matter what I had to say about it. I was walked into the holding room and my handcuffs were locked to the table. I was told I would only be in here for a short amount of time, until everyone had assembled for the meeting.

I prayed that Phil or someone was looking through that one sided window. Loki would come to me here, he'd made that plain. Now I was terrified of him. I was bouncing my leg up and down and clasping my hands nervously, still trying not to let the events that had happened get to me. I could cry in the bathroom later. Now it was imperative that I kept it together.

That was when I felt a cold chill in the air and I shivered. He was here. I closed my eyes and tried to wish him away but I knew it was futile. When I opened them, there Loki was, still in his Asgardian outfit but this time he had some sort of spear with him and I openly shrank into my chair. Anything like a spear or an arrow was now inevitably going to make me nervous. He moved to stand near me and I yanked back, bruising my wrists from the handcuffs locked to the table. "Get away from me," I said.

"You don't mean that," he said. In a way, I didn't mean it. I wanted to pretend that this day hadn't happened and that it was all a dream.

"Yes, I do. You hurt me." I was indignant now. He knelt beside my chair and I scooted away from him. He appeared so real, it was as if I could touch him. I was disgusted with myself for still wanting to.

"You have to believe me when I say that it was for your own good." He looked sad, like he regretted having stabbed me and lied to me, but I didn't believe it. It was a trick, along with all the charm he'd ever shown me.

"I don't believe anything you've ever said to me." He moved away from me, his face still solemn and he looked like he was hurt by what I'd said. Immediately, I wanted to take it back and say I was sorry but I knew that was a trick too; the best one he'd ever used on me. He knew what buttons to press to make me care for him infallibly and it made me sick. "I tried to help you and you hurt me. Why?"

"I told you, it's for your own good. You don't need to be involved with me anymore."

"You don't need to tell me twice," I responded. "Leave me alone. Don't ever talk to me again. I don't wanna see you until they take you down. I don't know what you're doing or where you're going but I don't wanna see you ever again. You've made me the fool here and I regret ever trusting you. You're exactly what they all said you were and the worst part about it is that you didn't have to be. You let your monster win. Now get the hell away from me and stop playing these tricks like you want me to believe you're sad or you're sorry for what you've done. You used me."

"I am sorry for you, Charlotte," he said, standing up, now clearly angry. "But this is not the last you've seen of me whether because I'll show myself to you or because you just miss me so terribly." I grimaced up at him.

"The hell I will."

"Oh, you say that now," he said, seductively, "but you'll see me in your dreams tonight. My face is going to haunt you all the time. You'll want me back."

"The way I feel shouldn't have been a game to you!"

"It wasn't," he said and with that, he had disappeared. My hands were shaking in their cuffs and my throat was dry. Then the door opened revealing Phil. As he moved to unlock me from the table, I turned to him.

"Please tell me you saw him."

"We did alright and after the meeting, we'll give you special protection. Aside from the office, we think he could show up physically," responded Phil. I breathed a sigh of relief and stood, my hands still cuffed. But I had to admit that during that exchange, I hadn't gotten the feeling that Loki wanted to hurt me. Even though I told myself I shouldn't believe him, I did believe he was sorry for the pain he was causing me.

We walked to the meeting room and I was being guided by Phil along with three of the men from earlier. "Do ya'll really think I could escape in the condition I'm in?" I asked Phil.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte, but we just don't know what he's told you and what you're capable of."

"You know what I'm capable of. You've done at least three background checks on me."

"And there will certainly be a fourth after this."

"I said I was sorry," I responded, like pleading my case would save me.

"That's not enough for me and it won't be enough for them," he said, opening the door to the meeting room. I paused before being pushed in by one of the men. They clearly didn't like my hesitancy and it was also clear that they considered me on the same level as Loki.

I sat at the end of the long table with all of the Avengers, minus Thor, and plus Fury and Phil. They were all staring at me and I kept my gaze on the table as one of the men grabbed my hands and locked my handcuffs to the top of the table again. "Are you serious?" I asked quietly. "You don't think they could stop me?" The man said nothing but smirked and tightened my handcuffs to their tightest setting. I winced.

Then the men left and I tensed, staring at my handcuffs like they might magically fall off. I wanted to avoid all of their gazes and I wanted to know where Thor was.

"We found the security tapes, Charlotte," said Phil. That made me look up but it wasn't to look at Phil, it was to look at Steve. He seemed as confused as I felt. So that's how Phil knew why I came to help Loki. "You may have swiped the cameras but there are hard drives on our computers that keep copies of the film." I leaned back in my chair, defeated. Now Steve was definitely going to get in trouble because of me.

"I understand," I said once I realized he was looking for a response.

"Can I ask the obvious question here?" asked Clint. "Why did you help Loki?" I didn't respond with as much as a nod. I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than stare down at the table.

"I say the tapes can answer that question," said Fury. I froze.

"You don't need to do that," I said, on the verge of begging.

"Oh, you're finally showing some emotion," he responded. "I'm sorry but the Avengers are entitled to this information." I shook my head.

"Please, I am begging you, do not show that." If I hadn't lost the Avengers sympathy already, I knew that footage would ensure it was gone. I didn't want Steve to see it.

All of the Avengers' eyes were on me. I leaned forward onto the table and put my hands over my mouth. I couldn't win, he was going to show it. "I don't need to see it," I heard Tony say. I dropped my hands to the table and turned to look at him.

"I think you do," said Fury as he let them show on the projector screen. It reminded me of being in school. I looked down and stared at the handcuffs again. I didn't want to see the video. I knew what was on it. At the very least, the cameras didn't record volume.

But they didn't have to; Fury could read their lips. "Right there, he asked if she would get in trouble," he said. I sighed, because they all seemed to be shock of my actions. "She replied that she didn't care." I raised my head to see the not-terrible footage they were showing. He had paused the tape.

"Is that it?" asked Tony. "He probably put a spell on her. Uncuff her." I looked over at him again. Was Tony Stark really trying to help me?

"The best part is coming up now." I closed my eyes and I heard them all gasp at my kissing Loki. I looked up and noticed that Steve deliberately wasn't looking at the screen. I tried to reach toward him but being locked to the table prevented me from going very far.

"You didn't mention that part," he said once the video had stopped.

"Can't you see why?" I responded. But it was too late and all I wanted was to go in the bathroom and cry. Now I'd lost two people.

"What the hell, Charlotte?" yelled Phil. "You just let him manipulate you!"

"I guess I did, Phil. Do you think I'm happy about it?"

"You can go on and nip that sarcasm in the bud," said Fury. "You better treat this seriously. You all should."

"Well, I'm being serious when I say how certain I am that Charlotte was tricked or something," said Tony. "It's clear from the video that he made her think he wanted her and then he stabbed her. He was using Charlotte to help him get to Thor. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You heard him; he said he could get out of here when he wanted. She paid for trying to help him."

"Obviously, she didn't realize she was being tricked," said Clint. I kept the solemn look on my face although I was intensely flattered that Clint and Tony were on my side.

"How did you get past the guards?" asked Bruce. This was the first question directly related to what I'd done to get to Loki and I figured I'd answer it.

"You should be able to tell from the tapes that there weren't any," I said. "I had to feel the doorknobs to see which were locked."

"There weren't any guards?" I shook my head.

"I figured Loki made them go away. He can do stuff like that, you know."

"Coulson, write that down and search for the guards later," said Fury. I watched Phil nod and scribble something down. Then he had a question for me.

"How long has Loki been on Earth?" Phil asked.

"Since the day you found his helmet," I responded.

"Tony and I met him at the grocery store about a month or two ago," said Clint. "If that was him and clearly, from the video, it was." I nodded solemnly.

"I took him from the desert the night before Jane dug up his helmet. I wanted to protect him from having to answer questions about Thor. He's lived with me ever since… although, I guess not anymore."

"He lived in that one bedroom house with you?" asked Steve, finally addressing me. I nodded. There was no point in denying it now.

"I told Clint and Tony that he was my cousin."

"We could tell he wasn't," said Tony.

"But I mean, who were we to criticize if she had some kind of secret relationship?" said Clint. "I didn't think anything of him not understanding a lot of stuff here."

"I got lucky that only a few people were here when he was brought in," I said. "Otherwise, I would've been found out sooner."

"I wouldn't have told on you," said Clint.

"It doesn't matter anymore. He's shown his true colors so I was the idiot."

"Yes, you were," said Natasha. I looked at her.

"If you've got something to say then go on," I said, preparing myself for whatever vitriol she was ready to spew.

"You've let these emotions cloud your head. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers should've come first for you, as it would've for any one of us."

"Sorry I wasn't trained to be unkind like you were. Some of us are still human!" I said, leaning out of my chair onto the table. They were lucky my handcuffs were locked to the table. All of these comments were finally getting under my skin.

"In case you haven't noticed, your 'kindness' has landed you in handcuffs and has let loose a national threat!"

"You won't catch me bragging about it!" I sat back in my chair.

"How did you not see him for what he is?" demanded Bruce. "Didn't Jane brief you on him?"

"She did," I said calmly. "But I thought he was misunderstood. Listen, I'm not asking for forgiveness right now but I am telling ya'll I am really, really sorry. I know what I did was wrong but I- I thought he was good… and I never thought he would hurt me or anyone else aside from maybe Thor and I knew he couldn't get to Thor. He used me and I'm sorry that I didn't know. I'm so sorry." I was on the verge of tears again and I glanced at Steve and was immediately sorry I did so. He looked so hurt.

"So he made you think you were in a relationship with him?" asked Tony.

"He didn't make me think that," I said. "We were in one."

"Damn, that's a brutal break up." I weakly smiled and nodded. "You're saying you care for him? Like a lot?"

"Enough to break him out of a holding room at my job's office at the risk of being arrested or at the very least, fired and losing my friends," I said, glancing at Steve again. "I apologize for that. But I never believed anything ya'll ever said about him. I didn't believe he sent the Destroyer and I didn't believe he killed those people. Now I do."

"You caring about him is a liability to us," said Natasha.

"I understand that."

"But it's apparent, Charlotte and Thor are the main characters in danger," said Phil. "He's said outright that he wants Thor and he's outright hurt Charlotte. He targeted her in the holding room before this meeting."

"And you didn't do anything about it?" asked Steve.

"It was a projection."

"Isn't a projection bad enough?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I said," I interjected. "But apparently, they don't care."

"A lover's quarrel doesn't concern us," said Fury.

"He's threatening me, Fury! Did you miss him stabbing me with Clint's arrow?"

"Speaking of that," said Clint, "how in the hell did you pull that thing out? I think that was one of my jagged arrows and you were here alone. How did you manage to clean that up?"

"That arrow wasn't jagged," I said. "And pulling it out wasn't as hard as you might expect." I was trying desperately to cover for Steve but I knew Fury wouldn't let that happen.

"Oh, we didn't mention that part?" asked Fury.

"Don't," I said.

"It's fine," said Steve. I turned to him and opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. He was still willing to take a freaking bullet for me and I didn't get why. "I'd have said it even if they weren't going to tell everyone. But I helped Charlotte." Clint was clearly shocked and glanced between the two of us, back and forth. Tony was, for once, silent and shocked. Natasha didn't seem fazed and Bruce just looked confused.

"We've got all that on film too," said Fury. I faced Fury and glared at him.

"You can crucify me but don't you dare do it to him," I said. "He shouldn't be punished for trying to help me."

"Oh, like you were?" asked Natasha.

"I deserved it for betraying ya'll. Is that what you wanna hear? Steve didn't know anything at all other than that I was hurt and Loki escaped. He did nothing wrong. I broke laws, okay? There's a major difference."

Tony smirked and said, "Told ya so, Charlotte." I saw Clint say something to Tony slyly and they both looked at me and grinned.

"Mr. Stark and Mr. Barton, do you think you could take this seriously?" asked Phil.

"I've already stated my feelings," said Tony.

"And I agree with him," said Clint. "But I think we ought to give Charlotte some sort of protection. Thor too."

"Where the hell is Thor?" I asked. "Doesn't this concern him as much as it does me?"

"I'm keeping Thor out of this," said Fury. "I don't want to concern him."

"If you weren't so damn obsessed with getting him on the team, you would realize that Thor is a person and deserves to be here. He deserved to know we had Loki yesterday but instead you made Clint distract him. Loki isn't just some guy from back home in Asgard, he is Thor's brother!"

"A brother he cast out of Asgard because of what he'd done."

"I'll believe that when he says it." Thor may have been mad at Loki but he would never deliberately cast him out. I truly believed Loki coming to Earth was a total accident and I knew Thor would agree with that.

"Well, and I can't believe I'm the one saying this," said Tony, "if we could stop the arguing and the drama then we could figure out what to do protection wise and also what to do about Loki."

"I don't want her here when we discuss what to do with Loki," said Natasha. "It's not because I don't like you, Charlotte."

"No, I understand completely," I responded. Natasha and I weren't the best of friends but we did get along. I was very intimidated by her but otherwise, she was very team oriented and professional. Of course, I understood why she felt that I shouldn't be there for that meeting.

"Fine, we'll discuss protection and then deal with the Loki situation a little later. I've already kind of come up with an idea for Charlotte. I say we have one of us, an Avenger, stay with her until we officially move back to New York and then she can stay with all of us there. Unless, of course, Loki is no longer a threat by that point," said Tony.

"I don't want any of ya'll to waste time trying to look out for me," I said, even though I desperately wanted the protection and to not be alone. "Especially not at night. We all need sleep."

"No, Tony's right. An Avenger is about the only full proof protection we can offer you," said Phil. "Clearly, our men do nothing in the way of Loki." I shrugged. They'd made up their minds.

"What about Thor?" asked Natasha. "He's qualified with strength and he's also Asgardian. He knows Loki better than the rest of us."

"No, putting Loki's two targets together is like offering them up on a platter," said Phil.

"I'm not a major target," I said but apparently, no one heard me.

"I'll do it," said Clint. "I'm totally fine with it."

"Clint, your major strength is archery. You have some good hand-to-hand combat but that's about it. You and Natasha are still regular humans. You just have good fighting skills," said Phil.

"So you're saying we're not qualified?"

"I'm saying that Loki can get around you pretty easily no matter the fight you put up."

"Wait, are ya'll thinking that he would potentially _physically _show up in my house?" I asked. "I was under the impression it would be mostly projections."

"Well, he had to project here," said Tony. "He knew we'd take him down. At your house, he's not expecting any opposition. I'll do it."

"No, Tony," I said. "Without your suit, you can't do much and I'm not gonna ask you to be in your suit all the time."

"She's right," said Phil. "And Bruce is too unstable." I leaned back in my chair slowly. There was only one option left. I glanced at him. He'd been silent for practically the whole meeting, probably angry at me. He'd helped me enough already. I refused to ask him to take care of me in my own house.

"I don't want Steve to do it," I said. "He's done enough for me."

"But he's actually the clear choice," said Bruce. "He has regular use of his strength unlike the rest of us like me and Tony. He's not Thor because more than likely, Thor would show nepotism."

"And besides that, he cares enough to get the job done," said Tony, smirking.

"I don't think he should do it," said Natasha. "He'll let her run away. His emotions are just as clouded as hers are." I could feel myself getting red in the face.

"But see, that works in our favor," said Clint. "He'll make sure the job's done right." Tony laughed a bit.

"Shut up," I said. "I won't ask him to do that."

"You don't have to ask him. We're assigning him as long he's fine with it," said Fury. I turned to look at Steve and I shook my head, trying to tell him that he didn't have to do this for me or for them. A war of conflicting feelings fought in my mind. On one hand, I desperately wanted him to decline that offer but on the other, I wanted him to want to do it so I would be forced to be around him and so I could personally apologize.

"I'll do it," he said.


	16. Chapter 16

I hadn't been able to say a word in edgewise to Steve or to any of them when I was suddenly unlocked from the table and taken back to the holding room. The meeting was over and they all had some important plans to be discussing, namely what my punishment should be. I pondered what they might do as I sat in the holding room. Apparently, jail time wasn't what they were thinking of. Maybe it wouldn't be anything severe at all. I could finally be catching a break after this long day. But I doubted Fury would allow me to just carry on as if I hadn't done anything wrong. Truthfully, it wasn't fair to let me just go back to work and I understood that. Maybe they figured it was punishment enough that I now garnered a fulltime babysitter but for as sarcastic as I felt about it, I knew I actually needed one. Clearly, my brain was more maniacal than I had originally thought and now I was what Phil had repeated over and over during the meeting; I was a target.

I wasn't stupid. I realized that Loki would continue to come to me. Something about his trickster ways demanded that. I was emotionally unstable concerning him and all of the Avengers saw that clearly during the meeting. He would probably think it was fun to continue doing this to me. But just because he wanted to taunt me didn't mean that I was in any real danger. If I made Loki extremely angry, that's a wild card, but I would try not to. Like Tony had mentioned, I was stabbed because I'd simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He could've gotten out on his own. And when he'd spoken to me earlier, I got no hint of him wanting to hurt me or injure me further. In fact, it was just the opposite. He looked like he felt terrible about doing it.

What the hell am I thinking? He's dangerous. I shouldn't be feeling like forgiving him. That's a weak and abusive mistake. Hell, had any of this really sunken in for me? All day my mind had been racing at a mile a minute, attempting to forget the fact that I had been tricked into a relationship and used and that I would potentially lose the friend(s) I had at S.H.I.E.L.D. Gosh, how had I been so stupid? Why didn't I listen when everyone said that stuff about him?

The worst thing was that I had become sympathetic to Loki's cause. I knew how jealous he was of Thor and he'd told me more than enough of his family life. He was what all of the Asgardians considered a monster. He had been raised to consider what he was as like a thing of nightmares. All he had wanted was to be Thor's equal. He never stood a chance. Some quote flashed through my head; "Monsters are real… They live inside us and sometimes, they win." I had said that to him earlier, when he came to me as a projection. I felt bad for him. How can I feel so sorry for someone who did this to me?

Maybe he really hated himself for being a Jotun. He had said it with such disdain when he told me he was one and then would refuse to say anything more about them from then on. He hadn't wanted to show me what he really looked like but he had anyway. Why would he do something like that if I was just some pawn in his game? He didn't need to share personal information with me. There had to be some mistake in there somewhere. I couldn't actually be being delusional about this. Why did Loki play along with me for this long? How did any of this make sense?

And now, more than likely, my entire world was shattered. I couldn't be with Loki again and he was entirely right. I probably would dream about him. I was to the point of being abnormally obsessed with him. I wonder if that was some trick as well. God, what if he had hated me all along? What if all he could think of being around me was how utterly pathetic I was? And I had been pathetic, I had to admit that. But having the idea that maybe Loki thought I was that way was so utterly repulsive, I thought I might be sick. I slammed my hands down on the metal table in front of me and bruised my wrists in the handcuffs further. God, this pain was becoming unbearable. If for one second, I thought that I was actually truly alone, I would have let myself bawl right there. But I knew there were cameras here and potentially there were people watching me right now. I wasn't going to let them see me break down over Loki. Then all of their suspicions about me would be right and none of them would ever trust me again. If I remained cool and calm and uncaring about them knowing about Loki, like the way I had been in the meeting, they would learn to trust me again even if it was gradually.

But I wouldn't be able to hold it together very long if I was left in the holding room much longer. It was like being in a room that was begging me to have a breakdown. My hip throbbing with pain from the arrow was only adding to my emotional misery. All I wanted was to get home and finally realize what's happened and to let it out- Oh, but I can't do that because I'll have a basic bodyguard in the house with me and not just any pack of muscle. It had to be beautiful, innocent Steve. Usually, it wouldn't bother me that much. I could probably cry around him just because I'm positive he wouldn't tell anyone else. But today? No, today, Steve probably wanted me to be in this much pain and I wouldn't blame him if he did. Of course, why he took me having a relationship with Loki harder than any of the others was beyond me. Maybe I just cared the most about his opinion.

At the very least, being around him tonight would allow me the time I needed to formally apologize to him. It was literally the only thing I wanted to do besides sob. I was beating myself up over being tricked already and when I saw how hurt Steve looked, I felt like shooting myself. Why didn't I tell them sooner about Loki? I could've prevented all of this… But giving Loki over to S.H.I.E.L.D. was still one of the most disgusting thoughts I'd ever had. The grief they would've given him over Thor should be reason enough for why I didn't tell them. I can't imagine what else they would've done with him.

I raised my hands to my face again. I was going insane. Didn't they realize this? And when would they take me out of these absolutely ridiculous handcuffs? On top of being, no doubt, the weakest member of S.H.I.E.L.D., I was also badly injured. I could barely walk, although those antibiotics had helped. What did they possibly think I could do?

Then I heard the door unlocking and I felt my stress just release in a burst. I was saved for the time being. Phil bent over and unlocked me from the table and helped me up. I noticed that my handcuffs were still on. I wobbled down the hallway towards the cubes, attempting to baby my side. I was glad that for the first time today, they didn't have guards escorting me. "I take it you just left me in there all day for no real reason," I said when I caught a glimpse of the cubes and everyone sitting in them.

"It's the end of the work day," he said, not responding to my earlier comment. "We thought everyone had had a long enough day."

"Damn, that's for sure," I said weakly, leaning against the hallway wall, trying to gather up my energy for the inevitable walk to my Jeep. "Are ya'll gonna give me anymore drugs for my side? Preferably the kind that makes you so drowsy, it's like you're unconscious. I have a feeling that I won't sleep well for awhile without help." Phil grinned.

"I'm sorry but you get what they put on you already." I shrugged.

"Another part of my punishment, huh?"

"How could you guess?" I pushed myself off the wall with a start, jolting my hands in the cuffs. If my wrists weren't bleeding when they finally took these off, I would honestly be surprised.

"I'm going the hell home." As I moved in front of the cubes to walk out, I noticed they all seemed to be staring at me. "Or I would if I could magically teleport and avoid everyone's gazes." At least this experience was improving my sense of humor.

"Alright everyone, let's call it a day," Phil called from beside me. I leaned against the wall in front of the cubicles. I forgot that I was probably required to wait for Steve and after all, these handcuffs needed to come off. I saw Phil make a gesture at Steve and I looked down at the floor. I was too nervous to see him right now. I heard everyone gathering their stuff together but I kept my gaze on the slippery office carpet that so often caused me to trip. Phil moved away and I glimpsed at him speaking to Steve then I saw him hand over a key. What the hell was going on? I stumbled over to them and held out my wrists, expecting one of them to unlock them. I noticed how I wasn't hearing the rustle of the other Avengers getting ready to leave. They were all staring at the next thing to happen in this terrible day. I was getting a little annoyed with my life being on display. "Here's the deal," said Phil. "He'll stay with you and we'll set up our own security perimeter in the morning like we're doing right now with Thor." I nodded like I was being taken to a prison sentence and not being told to spend an obscene amount of time with my best friend. "He'll uncuff you when you need to shower or when you're asleep but otherwise, you'll be cuffed to be kept under close watch."

"What the hell, Phil?" I demanded, finally looking up. If the others were looking for a show, they would certainly get one. "This is ridiculous. Do you think I can overpower him? What point is there to keep me in these stupid cuffs? I can't do anything whether I'm in them or not. You know that! Now take them off! I'm not a prisoner!"

"Yes, you are," said Phil, negating my previous comment. "You keep the cuffs on to remind you that what you did was criminal and if you weren't in the amount of danger you are and if you weren't as valuable to us now, you would be in jail where these handcuffs would rarely come off your wrists!"

"Yes, they would, Phil! They would come off when I'm in my cell and that's exactly what that condemnable one bedroom house is!" He shook his head. These weren't totally his orders. "So I can't even drive anymore? I can't even drive my own car! See if I help ya'll now." I brought my wrists down in front of my hips and looked down at the floor again, my outburst of rage finally over.

"Just everyone go home!" called Phil and he walked away from me and Steve. My heart started pounding unnecessarily.

"Tony, can you bring me my bag?" I called, still not looking up. "The keys to my Jeep are in there. I guess you'll need them," I said to Steve quietly. Tony came up to me and held out my purse. I made him hold it while I struggled to find my keys and when I did, I handed them over to Steve, secretly unwillingly. The thought of someone else driving that Jeep was horrifying, even though I was possibly the worst driver known to mankind. I grabbed the handles of my purse and held them with my two hands because I couldn't put it on my shoulder. "Thanks," I said to Tony.

"It'll get better," I heard him say. I nodded without looking up. I appreciated it. Then I heard him walk away.

"Do you need me to help you get there?" I heard Steve ask. My heart felt like it had stopped. Why was he being so nice?

"I would appreciate it," I said back, "but I can't grab hold of you with holding my bag and with these, of course." I held up my wrists slowly. "But if we just walk slowly, I can get there." He didn't respond and I could feel myself about to cry. I bit my lower lip as we rode down the elevator. I slowly made my way to the passenger side of my Jeep and it was hell getting into it. For once, I regretted having a tall vehicle. It made my side ache.

I dropped my purse on the floorboard and struggled to buckle myself in. It was difficult to maneuver it correctly but I did manage it before the car was even turned on. Of course, that maybe had to do with him having to adjust the seat and the mirrors and everything, given how much taller he was than me. "I'm sorry if I'm terrible at driving this," he said. "I've never driven one before."

"You can't possibly be as bad as I am," I responded, still terrified of looking at him fully. I was waiting to be reprimanded but maybe I'd have to be home for that to happen.

"Is uh, is your side doing any better?" he asked as we drove off.

"It still hurts and it's still hard to walk but whatever they gave me did make it feel better. Thanks for asking," I responded.

"Yeah, it was apparent nobody else seemed to care that you were injured. They just pushed you around."

"They did but after all, I am a criminal now. But those guards were brutal. One of them tightened these handcuffs all the way and when we get to my house, all I ask is that you loosen them one notch." He didn't respond but I assumed he nodded. He didn't say anything else and when we arrived outside of my house, he helped me get down out of my Jeep. The sight of my house upset me more than I had thought it would. I knew Loki wasn't inside it, wearing the clothes I'd bought him and trying to cook something he'd never heard of. This would be unusual to get used to. "The key to my house is on the keychain with the car key," I said, grabbing my bag and making my way to the front door. I didn't want to go inside. This was potentially the most nerve wracking experience of the day.

I saw the door open and I walked inside, followed by Steve. I felt frozen in place. I couldn't decide where to look first; the living room, which was literally the main place I'd spent time with Loki, or the pathway to and my bedroom, which had his clothes scattered everywhere. Something was missing here and I knew it was him. I couldn't tell if it was just hot inside or if I was just so entirely nervous that I was sweating. I was right, this was one of the worst parts of the day and I could tell this was it. This was the time I would break. "I wanna take a shower," I said quietly.

"Sure," he said, retrieving the key Phil had given him. I kept my eyes on the handcuffs. I hadn't truly looked at Steve this entire time, not even in the office. I was too scared he was mad at me. I held out my arms to him and he unlocked them. I was so relieved to have them off and my wrists were bruised, as I had suspected. "That looks bad."

"I've had worse," I said, rubbing them and turning to walk to my bathroom. I tried not to get a glimpse of the bedroom. That would be the worst. I paused at the doorway to the bathroom and rested one of my hands on the wall to steady me. "Listen, I've got a lot I wanna say to you but I'm so miserable right now that it has to wait." I didn't wait for a response. I just pushed into the bathroom and broke down before I'd even turned on the faucet. The water stung my wound and my hands were pressed against the shower wall. At one point, I was positive the crying might make me sick but I almost didn't care. Loki wasn't here anymore. He wasn't with me anymore. He had used me. Everyone at my job hated me. I was a virtual prisoner. And had I mentioned that I had lost Loki, aside from the torture he had promised me?

Okay, I needed to pull myself together. I could be miserable another time. I got out of the shower and slowly dried off, trying not to irritate my side, although it was clear that it needed a new bandage after getting wet. I got into some pajamas that I always kept in the bathroom. I was weird, I know, but there was always the possibility that I forgot to bring them in with me and obviously, I was never living alone again. I opened the door to the bathroom slowly and glimpsed at myself in the mirror. My face was red, maybe even a little puffy. I could blame that on the shower. I wondered if he'd heard me. He probably had. Just another thing to add to the list of ever growing embarrassments.

I leaned out of the doorway and saw into my bedroom. I wonder if I could bend over and pick up all of his clothes and throw them away. Well, I was certainly about to try. Does everyone act this nuts after a break up? Well, of course, not everyone gets broken up with by stabbing and not everyone gets arrested afterwards. I stumbled into my bedroom and slowly kicked his stuff into a pile and then I carefully picked it up and put them in a bag. These were getting thrown away ASAP. I dragged the bag out of my bedroom and out of the front door, not even looking at my living room. "I'm not trying to escape," I said and then I threw the clothes in my outdoor trash can. "Well, that was a relief," I said, walking back inside and shutting the door.

"Did you throw away his stuff?" I heard Steve ask.

"Yeah," I said, slowly walking towards the living room. "How'd you guess?" I finally looked over at him and he looked like he felt incredibly sorry for me. You know that look of pity people sometimes give you that makes even you feel bad for yourself? That was it. I guess he had heard me in the shower. God, I hated my life.

He shrugged. "Are you doing okay with it?"

"I guess." I walked over to him sitting on my couch and I held out my wrists. He shook his head at me and I got confused.

"I'm not putting them back on you. You don't need to be a prisoner in your own house. I get the idea of punishment but I'll stop you if you try to run away," he responded. I dropped my hands and nodded slowly.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked. That made me feel worse than if he had openly yelled or something. "I don't deserve that."

"You made a mistake and you've paid for it," he said, not looking at me, and I realized that he was probably still hurt.

"I wanted to apologize to you earlier," I said, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. "But I- I'm just so terribly sad right now. I'm so sorry. You don't have to forgive me but please know that I feel awful about everything. I don't want you to be mad at me. I can't take that along with everything else."

"I'm not mad at you." But he was. I could tell that he was. He was just trying to spare my feelings when he'd seen how miserable I was becoming.

"If you got in trouble because of me, I'm sorry for that too."

"They didn't do anything to me. I think they were too preoccupied with you." I smiled a bit and nodded.

"Of course. And I hate they made you do this. Be my babysitter or whatever. You could be doing something actually important but no. They stuck you here with me. I'm sorry for that too."

"Oh, you're not the worst company. Besides, I would've volunteered first if Clint hadn't."

"You're such a nice guy," I replied, shaking my head.

We didn't say much else to each other until it was late enough that I thought I could attempt sleeping. I knew it was futile but it was worth a shot anyway. I hadn't slept in over two days and I hadn't eaten anything either. But I knew I couldn't eat yet. At the very least, I could sleep. "Do you have to stay up the whole night?" I asked, unsure of what his job here entailed.

"No, not the whole night. But I'm not supposed to be telling you that. You could sneak past me," he said.

"You have my word," I replied. "You can have the bed." I didn't want to be near it in all honesty.

"Nope. You have to go to sleep first and you're injured."

"Oh, don't remind me," I said and I moved into my bedroom. My wound was already feeling surprisingly better. "I'll probably be up in a couple of hours. I doubt I can sleep."

"That's fine. I probably won't either." Hell, at least I'd have some company. I walked towards my bed and felt like crying all over again. The first day had to be the hardest. I needed to pull it together. As I rolled back the covers of my bed to get in, I jolted backwards. As I slowly came forward again, I put my hand right on the sheet. I moved backwards again.

It was unnaturally cold. Air conditioning didn't make that happen. I yanked back the covers on the other side and felt it there. That side was warm, the average way the bed was before Loki had been here. "Oh my God," I said. "He's been in here."


	17. Chapter 17

Why had Loki done that? He knew how much I liked it and if I was a "target" now, why was he trying to make me happy? I touched the bed again. This also meant that he had physically been inside my house, within the hour. There was no possible way that could happen, right? Maybe he could teleport; it wasn't like he'd told me. Or maybe I was being paranoid. I wouldn't cut that out because it was a real risk. But the other side of the bed being warm convinced me that I couldn't be too careful. I should tell Steve. After all, that was the reason he was around anyway.

"Steve!" I called. I knew he wouldn't understand the significance of this and I honestly didn't want to tell him but it was better to be safe than sorry. I saw him come in the door of my bedroom, confused. "He's been in here."

"How do you know?" he said, moving towards me and I could tell he believed me while still being skeptical.

"Feel each side of the bed. One side's regular temperature while the other is practically freezing." He did as I told him but still looked confused.

"What does that have to do with anything? Sure, it's weird but-"

"He's a Frost Giant. Did you know that? He had really cold skin, like freezing cold skin. And I hate how hot it is out here. I love the cold. And I could never sleep when it was this hot at night. He could make my side of the bed cold." I was franticly trying to explain it without mentioning the fact that we slept in the same bed or that he would have had to get in the bed to get it this cold. "Maybe Thor would understand this better. But what I'm trying to tell you is that he has _physically _been in here in at least the last hour."

"Are you serious? How would we have not known about that?"

"I don't know. Maybe he can teleport? He never told me. But whatever. He's been in here while we've been here and we didn't know it."

"I honestly didn't think he would do anything. Why would he risk getting caught?"

"Maybe he didn't realize you were here. I don't know. But it's not like he was trying to hurt me. I just thought you should know there'd been a development."

"Well, how do you know he wasn't trying to hurt you? He could've been waiting for you to be asleep!"

"He didn't do this to trick me. He did this because he knows I like it. I don't know why he would do it though, if I'm in danger from him."

"It's a trick like everything else he does. He's trying to taunt you because he knows he hurt you. It's as simple as that."

"I don't think Loki would do that to me. What if he was actually being nice?"

"Did you forget that he stabbed you? Don't try to forgive him. You know he's teasing you. Don't think the best of him." I knew he was right but I wanted to give Loki the benefit of the doubt for once. No one seemed willing to cut him some slack. But Steve was right. This was a joke on me, one that Loki had warned me he would play.

"I guess that's true. Gosh, this is just so hard for me. I didn't realize he was like that, you have to know." He nodded at me. "It's really hard for me to think that he wants to play these jokes on me or that he was just using me. I didn't have a clue. He talked to me earlier, in the holding room."

"Yeah, Coulson mentioned that and apparently, they did nothing about it." I could tell that made him angry and it made me mad too. What if I had actually been in danger? What if Loki had counted on them assuming he would project?

"Well, he told me he was sorry about it. He said it was for my own good. I know it's a trick but it's just so difficult for me to adjust to something like that. I don't know. This isn't anything big but I guess we'll have to let them know about it tomorrow. I'm already sick of this house arrest stuff."

"Speaking of tomorrow, there's gonna be another meeting where I think they're hoping to get knowledge from you about he's doing." I shook my head.

"They will be sorely disappointed. We knew next to nothing about each other."

"Fury sure won't be satisfied with that."

"At this point, I probably wouldn't tell him anything even if I had some information. He's being such an ass to me."

"He's that way all the time."

"Sometimes I wonder why ya'll even agreed to be on a team for him."

"We haven't even begun actual teamwork. We'll probably end up hating each other." I laughed a bit for the first time that day.

"I'm sure at first you will." Those egos would flare up from at least three of them; mostly, from Tony. "Well, I'll do what I set out to do originally. I'm gonna try to sleep." I touched the cold side of my bed again and it was still comfortable. As much as I wanted the resistance to sleep on the other side, I knew it wouldn't happen.

"I don't know," he said skeptically.

"You don't know about me sleeping now? I know you're like my bodyguard or whatever but I think Loki's done what he set out to do tonight which was to torture me further. I doubt he's about to come in here and slit my throat. He had that opportunity earlier." I actually hadn't given that much thought; that if his goal was to kill me he had had at least three opportunities by now. I mean, why not kill with that arrow instead of just injuring me?

"I guess you're right. Maybe I'm paranoid."

"I think I'm there too so it's okay. We're both exhausted. I think it's gone to our heads."

"That's true too. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, walking out of my room and I was relieved. I was relieved that he wouldn't have to judge me for automatically crawling into that cold spot and pretending the day hadn't even occurred. I was, miraculously, able to sleep for a while. When I woke up, it was because I heard my alarm going off. I rolled to the other side of my bed to turn it off. I didn't even notice that my side was injured. It actually felt fine. That was weird. I guess S.H.I.E.L.D. had some kind of special medicine I didn't know about. Then I felt something crumpled in my bed. Gosh, I was always leaving clothes everywhere. I pulled whatever it was out and then got out of bed with it. Without even seeing it, I knew it wasn't mine.

I turned on a light in my bedroom and held it up. It was the dark green Henley shirt I had first bought for Loki. I had thrown it away last night. I remembered putting it in that bag. Holy hell, he'd been here again. I waltzed out of my room, still clutching the shirt and yanked open my front door, without so much as acknowledging Steve. But I was on a mission. I opened the lid to the trashcan and screamed, "That bastard!" All of his clothes were gone. I stomped back inside and held up his shirt while Steve was still trying to wake up fully. "Sorry if I woke you with that outburst but something else has happened."

"What is it?" he asked, clearly still tired. His voice sounded phenomenal like that.

"He took his clothes. You know, the ones I threw away last night? And he left this," I held up the Henley, "in my bed with me in it!" I walked over and dropped it on my two person table. I sighed. "Okay, I'll get ready for work."

"Wait, he's been here twice last night?"

"Yeah, apparently so. He's not hurting me though so I just don't see the point in getting upset about it."

"He _is _hurting you, just not physically."

"I don't really wanna think about that this morning. Maybe I'll take a page from Tony's book and start drinking." I walked back into my room and put on the most comfortable office pants I could find and threw on a shirt. I pulled my hair up just to be indignant to Loki. I knew how obsessed he was with my hair and how much he liked it down. I wasn't wearing it down anymore.

I walked into the living room and I felt like crying all over again. I didn't want to go back to work and face those people. I didn't want Loki to keep doing this random stuff to upset me more. "How's your side?" I heard Steve ask. "You're walking better."

"It actually feels like it's not injured. I looked at it before I got dressed and it's already smaller," I replied. "I don't know what they gave me but it was a miracle worker."

"That's pretty impossible, for it to already be healing significantly." I shrugged. I didn't know how it had happened either. I was just happy I wasn't in physical pain as well as emotional turmoil.

"Oh, I totally forgot that you don't even have clothes here," I said, taking notice that he was wearing the same thing he had been yesterday. "Maybe it's better if I move in with you."

"We can just drive by and get my stuff. It's no problem." I nodded. "Although that actually might be a good idea, you moving in. Loki doesn't know where I live."

"That's a total perk! Why didn't we think of this yesterday? Oh well, just give me like a week and I'll move over, whether they like the idea or not." I already felt relief about that. There was no way Loki could get to me over there and it would be a lot easier on Steve, which was really my main concern.

We drove over to the office and I got increasingly nervous about seeing everyone in another meeting. From what I understood from Steve, Thor would be there because they'd finally told him everything. I didn't want to face him after this. He probably hated me now.

After we'd parked, I held out my wrists and Steve put on my handcuffs on the loosest possible setting and I laughed. "They'll probably fall off," I said. "You don't want them to think you're being slack. You can tighten them." He originally didn't want to but then he tightened them so that they weren't uncomfortable. "You're seriously too nice to me," I said as he helped me get down out of the Jeep, again.

I walked up to the doors and saw Tony and Clint following behind us. This day was going to blow. I tried to get us into the elevator before they could catch it but they did anyway. "How was your first night in house arrest?" asked Clint.

"Pretty sucky," I replied.

"Did he do anything?" asked Tony.

"Did who do anything?" I asked, as I got off the elevator with Steve. They followed behind me still eager to bug me with questions.

"Loki!" said Clint.

"I'd rather not talk about him," I said, proceeding to be led down the hallway by Steve to see Phil. I was praying it wouldn't be another day of me locked inside a holding room. When I caught sight of Phil, I noticed that Thor was standing behind him. I almost turned around and bolted. "Did you tell him everything?" I asked Phil while nodding at Thor. Phil nodded back at me. "It was about time." Thor gave me a look and I said to Phil, "I wanna talk to him by myself, if that's alright." Phil and Steve both backed off although it appeared that Phil was wont to do so.

I walked up close to Thor and prayed that Steve and Phil were far enough away that they couldn't see our exchange. Thor was wearing regular clothes for once but he didn't look pleased. In fact, he looked angry and sad at the same time, which is exactly how I had been feeling. "Thor, I'm so sorry. I can't apologize to you enough," I said, avoiding fully looking at him. "I can tell you're angry."

"I am not angry at you," he responded. "I am angry at them for keeping this a secret from me."

"You should be. I told them that you deserved to know."

"I understand and I accept your apology about Loki. You did not know his nature and certainly, neither did I for quite a long time." I nodded, almost to the point of crying. I hadn't been counting on Thor being so understanding. Out of all of the Avengers, I figured he would be the angriest and the one with the most right to be.

"I wanted to protect him from having to answer questions on you. That's why I had him with me. It developed from there and when he was captured, I still didn't believe anything he'd done."

"That's understandable. He has that way about him. I feel like I should apologize to you."

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"Because he really hurt you and you did not deserve those games he chose to play." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Thor meant well, he really did, but I didn't think he could understand me. "I understand how you feel about him. It is the way Jane feels about me." I nodded again, this time looking at the ground. "You are not the only one he fooled and he tricked. He did the same to me."

"You knew he was here when you first came, didn't you? That's why you talked to me."

"I was not positive, no. But one of the first things they mentioned to me was finding Loki's helmet. As I saw you and how nervous you were at the sight of me, I thought you had information."

"You have good instincts," I replied.

"Are you doing alright with everything?" The way he asked it was so genuine that I felt I could only answer the same way in turn.

"No, I'm not. I'm trying very hard to keep it together in front of everyone here and even in my house, but it's very difficult. I'm pariah here now. Everyone is mad at me and I feel like if I show them how sad I am about losing Loki, they'll judge me further. I don't want that."

"You do not deserve to be judged. I am not mad at you and some of the others do not seem mad at you. Your only mistake was being caring. I am sorry for your pain." With that, he pulled me close to him and hugged me. I couldn't hug him back because of my handcuffs but it was literally the nicest gesture anyone could've given me at that moment. He hugged me for a long time and I let myself cry a little. The pain had been almost unbearable. When I backed away, I wiped my face slowly with my hands. I knew I looked fine afterwards. "Do you want me to break those for you?" he whispered down to me as he touched my wrist. I smiled and shook my head.

"They'd just put me in new ones. I'm sorry I cried. I don't usually do that. But I really am sorry about the part I played in setting Loki free."

"I might've done the same," he replied. For some reason, that made me feel infinitely better. Thor understood Loki in a way none of the rest of us did and he honestly cared for him. That's why he seemed to understand why I had done what I did.

"You don't know what it means to me for you to understand what's going on in my head." That was certainly true. I wasn't comfortable talking about it but yet, Thor knew what I was feeling almost automatically. I hadn't even had to say anything other than how guilty I felt.

"Well, you don't know what it means to me for you to answer me every time I speak to you. The others seem… intimidated or as if they hate me. You have been one of my only friends." I smiled again.

"Any time. I wanna keep you as my friend," I said. Then he smiled too. I turned to walk back to the cubes and I saw that Steve and Phil were at the end of the hallway and had watched the entire thing. Yet again, I felt like I hated my life. At least, they hadn't heard what we'd said. I walked back over to them, confidently. "Well, that certainly went better than expected."

"Great. Now we'll get you some more medicine for your side and then we'll have our meeting," responded Phil. Steve and I walked to the room where they'd treated me yesterday. I lifted up my shirt in the back for them and they paused when they unbandaged it.

"Is everything okay? Is it infected?" I asked. I turned my head to look over my shoulder at Steve and he shook his head.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was healing," he said.

"Is that not normal?" I asked skeptically. "I figured that was the medicine I was on."

"That stuff is great," said the person treating me, "but there is no way it should be going this fast."

"But that's a good thing, right? I mean, less pain and everything?"

"We're going to thoroughly look at it. Pictures, MRIs, the whole shebang. And I want a chemical sample. Mostly this is for company records but we'll look at how the medicine is doing it's job."

"That's fine." I went through all of the tests and was finally rebandaged and had some antibiotics. "Gosh, that was weird," I said to Steve as we walked down the hall to the meeting room. "I figured they'd be relieved at it's progress."

"I guess they gave you something really strong." I nodded.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm thankful for it. I thought I wouldn't be able to walk for weeks and now I'm almost fine."

We walked in and I sat at the head of the table again, handcuffs locked to the top. Thor was on my right side at the corner and Steve was on the other. I noticed no one was sitting directly beside Thor and I felt sorry for him. He was an outcast. "Alright everyone," said Fury, "we've learned a lot about Loki's abilities from Thor but next to nothing on his motives or anything really personal. There were clear secrets he kept from Thor that he is only now beginning to understand. We're looking for more insight." I saw him look down the table, directly at me.

"What makes you think he told me anything or that even if he did, it wasn't a lie?" I responded.

"We know you know things about him, Charlotte." I shrugged.

"Have you briefed everyone on his 'abilities?'" I asked, wondering why he mentioned that he knew things from Thor.

"Yes, I have. We deliberately left you out of it." I smirked.

"Of course, you did."

"Treat this seriously, Charlotte," said Phil. "You understand why we're doing this. You're a complete loose cannon." I nodded solemnly. I was one; I wasn't going to try denying that.

"Well again let me ask, what do you think I know on him? What makes you think I know his motives? I trusted that he didn't send the Destroyer, don't you think that opinion might have changed if he offered up some bait like he was planning on killing those people? You already know his motive. He's said he wants Thor."

"But why?" Now I felt like they were just trying to gauge what Loki had told me. They already knew the things I was telling them.

"He was jealous of Thor his whole life. I mean, it's the most common story of sibling jealousy. They were princes and Thor was to be crowned. Loki was never favored within the family and Thor getting the throne set him off so the coronation was delayed. I suppose he did that but he never owned up to it with me. But it's not that I think he wanted to be king or anything. All he truly wanted was to be Thor's equal. It's quite sad really. And I think what really broke him was being told he was a Frost Giant. He'd been told all his life they were monsters and so he figured he should be one too. At least, that's my interpretation. If any of that is a lie, I'd like Thor to repute it for me. But I know for a fact he's a Frost Giant. He showed me what he looked like."

"He showed you?" asked Thor. "What did he look like?"

"Haven't you seen them?" Maybe he was testing to see if Loki had done some illusion. "I didn't see him fully but his skin turned blue. I think he told me they had red eyes too."

"Why would he show you that?" asked Thor. I shook my head.

"He showed me things other than that. I knew he could project. I think he can teleport. I think he's strong in magic."

"All of that's true," responded Thor. "I don't understand why he revealed so much."

"I don't understand why he stabbed me so we're both confused by him."

"Actually, that is a lot of personal information," said Clint. "Was he strictly using Charlotte? Do we know that for a fact?"

"Yes, we know that for a fact," said Fury. "I assume he told her personal things in exchange for information she had _on us_."

I shook my head openly. "It wasn't like that. We barely told each other anything. When he would go out while I was at work, I didn't know where he went and if I bothered to ask, he gave some sly answer."

"Well, now we have an answer for how he got so organized while you were around," said Tony. "He snuck out during the day."

"Surely, you told him something," said Phil.

"I guess I'll own up to it. I told him why I took him from the desert was to protect him from ya'll and that you wanted Thor. I told him about Clint, Tony, and Steve only because he saw all three of them and knew they were different. He knew Tony from TV so there was literally no surprise there."

"When did he see me?" asked Steve.

"You came by to give me some files. He was staring at you out of the window. You're the one he wanted the answers on."

"And you told him everything about each of them?" asked Fury.

"I didn't think anything would come of it and he kept demanding I tell him."

"Now he can anticipate four of us."

"Like I said, I didn't think anything would come of it."

"Did he mention who of us he thought would be the biggest threat?" asked Clint. I shook my head.

"He never mentioned anything specific. Although, I think Steve really threw him for a loop. He asked about him and would make accusations about the 'men' I worked with."

"So he was jealous?" asked Tony.

"If that's what you wanna call it, sure. But other than that, he knew nothing. I didn't mention the term 'Avengers' or anything about anyone else. I did tell him I would eventually have to move back to New York when Thor returned and he asked to come with me. That's it."

"So New York's an eventual target," said Natasha.

"Not everything he said was about attacking us or anything. I got the feeling he only had animosity with Thor and his family. I will say that he very much dislikes humans. He thinks he's a lot better than them."

"World domination? Check," said Tony. I rolled my eyes.

"That's all I've got."

"So since he didn't get the respect he wanted in Asgard, he's looking to find it here?" asked Bruce. I shrugged.

"I don't know what his plans are."

"Has he shown himself to you?" asked Clint. "Like he did in the holding room yesterday?"

"Not exactly. But I could tell he'd been there."

"What about you, Thor? Has he been talking to you?" Thor shook his head. "No messing around like he's been doing with Charlotte?" Thor shook his head again. "Why is he singling you out?" he asked, turning to me.

"I wish I knew."


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi! I just wanted to say thanks so much for all of the feedback. I appreciate it more than you know. As usual, I own nothing but Charlotte. I hope ya'll enjoy me building from random seconds in the trailers from now on. Haha.**

The meetings were probably going to happen regularly until we officially moved back to New York where we would all live together. I was dreading that as well, more than I normally would have been. I sat down at my cube and began to do the menial work they'd given me; anything about the Avengers themselves, the initiative, or any new gadgets they were creating, had been left out. I was blindly working with half-pieces of information. As I turned on my computer, I noticed that new restraints were in place, to watch every little thing I did while on it. I sighed, frustrated, and tried to work with my stupid handcuffs on. All in all, it wasn't going to be all that bad. Eventually, they would come to trust me again. I'd offered up information today, hadn't I?

I flipped pages over and over in my hands, trying to understand anything about them. Some kind of aircraft carrier? Was this the helicarrier that Phil had been hinting at for months? Well, if I asked, they certainly wouldn't tell me and other than a few bleak details, I wasn't even sure it was an aircraft carrier. They couldn't possibly expect me to do any amount of work correctly without giving me information. They'd taken away my privileges of looking at the files that for the most part, I created. I understood why they were doing this but it certainly didn't make me feel any better and it definitely didn't make me feel like I was part of the team.

The day came to a close and I got ready to leave, after having another spout of medicine. "Your tests are fine! The medicine's working great!" was all I really got out of it. I didn't respond much to them. I gave Steve my keys and we rode by his house, which wasn't much bigger than mine, to get some of his clothes. I wanted to get stuff together before I officially moved in with him. The minute we went inside my house, Steve was so eager to take my handcuffs off. I did want them off, desperately so, but I didn't want him to take them off because it was possible he would get in trouble for doing it.

"I'll just leave them on," I said. "I just don't want you to have to pay for being nice to me."

"Do you seriously think they can find out you take them off in your house?" he responded, grabbing my wrists and unlocking the cuffs anyway.

"I guess I did house a fugitive for a few months without them noticing." I moved past him to the kitchen.

"Did you handle today alright?" he asked, following behind me. He took this "protection" thing to a whole new level and I knew now that Loki had been in my house twice, it was only going to increase.

"Well, I have four friends and that's four more than I thought I'd have. You're the best one, of course, but you knew that." He opened his mouth to respond but I kept talking, mostly because I didn't like that I'd let it slip that he was the closest one to me. "But I'm really gonna have difficulty doing any work for them with everything they've cut out. It's just incredibly choppy stuff that I don't know what to do with. I mean, do they think I'm still on good with Loki after he stabbed me or do they know something I don't?"

"I think they're assuming he'll threaten you for information and that that's why he's been showing up in here."

"He can't even play a joke on me without me somehow getting punished." I reached into my cabinets and noticed that my alcohol was on the top shelf. I moved past Steve, leaving the cabinet door wide open, and grabbed one of my table chairs to stand on. This was the unfortunate downside to being so short.

As I sat it down in front of the cabinet, Steve said, "What do you want? I'll get it for you."

"Oh, it's totally fine, I've been doing this for months," I said, getting on the chair and pulling out a bottle of rum. Not as hard as what I'm sure Tony drinks but it was certainly going to make me feel better. "Besides, you're not here to be my lackey." I got down and sat the rum on the counter. "How do you feel about getting drunk tonight?" I asked, carrying the chair back.

"I-"

"Oh, never mind, I forgot that you can't get drunk. I read your file. That must really suck when you go out with me and Tony and Clint."

"It's actually really funny," he replied smiling.

"Are you thinking of that one time?" I asked. He nodded.

"You can't hold alcohol at all, has anyone ever told you that? Two drinks in and you're falling all over us, telling Clint you're sorry you never dated him." I laughed.

"I'm well aware I can't hold my liquor. That's why I'm drinking it tonight. Was that the same night that I told Tony I loved him and then I said you were one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen?"

"Yeah, that was that night."

"I vaguely remember that." I got down a glass and absent-mindedly went about making myself a drink. "Apparently, not everything you say when you're drunk is true. I'm glad I didn't date Clint and I certainly do not love Tony." I shot back my first drink. I was deliberately leaving off the statement I'd drunkenly made about Steve. That one was true. "This is delicious."

"Just don't say anything you don't mean," he said.

"Oh, I can assure you that anything I say tonight, I'll mean." I moved to sit at my table and Steve sat across from me. I was actually really enjoying being around him all the time. "Are you still mad at me?" I asked, polishing off my second glass.

"I wasn't mad at you," he said, denying it.

"Yes, you were. I could tell. You were sparing my feelings. I'm sorry I lied to you," I responded, pouring myself another glass, glad I'd brought the bottle. "You didn't deserve that. Some of them do but you didn't. I was gonna tell you everything anyway. I thought about doing it before I broke in but I was so worried you'd hate me and I couldn't take that." I finished another glass, my brain feeling a little woozy. "I'm glad you're not judging me for drinking right now 'cause I sure need it. Can I just be honest here for a minute? I'm so afraid of everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. thinking I'm weak and I don't wanna tell _you _this 'cause what if you get angry at me? But you're here and you're listening. I'm already tipsy, aren't I? But like, I miss him, you know? It's been only two days and he's mean and I get that but I miss him. I was around him all the time and he needed someone. He was just… damaged and you know I don't usually like that but after you, I thought I could do it again." My brain on even the least bit of alcohol was like me when I was nervous. I would just say my random thoughts and I didn't think to shut up.

"I remember when you said that to me."

"I'm glad I decided to work with you, you know? I sure as hell couldn't take it if Maria Hill had gotten to work with you. I hate her. She's one of the reasons I don't want to go back to New York." Maria Hill was an agent at S.H.I.E.L.D. that was really second only to Fury. She had been my roommate before I came out here. She didn't like how I was picked to work on staff and she thought I was too untidy of a roommate.

"I thought she didn't match with me well?" he asked. Steve was referring to the personality matching they'd done to make sure whoever was assigned to help him acclimate to the time period was someone he would easily get along with. I think a lot of it had to do with matching him with someone who wouldn't seem so totally opposite to the time period he had come from. Back when I'd been chosen for it, I wasn't the cusser that I am now and I was in the middle of a phase of finger curling my hair.

"I think if I'd officially turned it down, she would've gotten you no matter the profile match. She's a royal bitch so aren't you glad I took you on?" He smiled.

"I'd rather it have been you than anyone else."

"Did it have anything to do with me finger curling my hair?" I laughed.

"Not really but it was a good look for you."

"I was a little obsessed with Veronica Lake." I laughed a bit again. That had been around a year ago that we'd even been introduced. "I can't believe how long ago that was. Well, at least you're not the dark soul I was worried you'd become. I would guess you're more harrowed than you were in the forties but hey, you don't hate us for finding you."

"No, you were right. I do enjoy this time period."

"I told you we couldn't have picked a better time to find you. Gosh, I'm getting so maudlin." I tilted back another glass. "I was really nervous to meet you when I finally accepted the offer."

"I was nervous about everything." I nodded. I remembered very clearly being introduced to Steve.

"_I'm not doing it, Phil," I said, sitting at my office desk, handing him the file. Phil shook his head and I laid the file down beside me. My office was bland at that point and it didn't have a door so anyone who really wanted to could just walk right in. "He's too… I'm sorry but he's damaged and unstable. I can't work with someone who may or may not hate us on principle." It was my personal rule to not deal with people who were that emotional, be it mad or confused, because they were unreceptive to help and they always somehow ended up making me feel for them. It wasn't my job to care for the Avengers. It wasn't even my job to know them personally. _

"_You don't know how he's feeling. But that's fine. Finish up the loose ends in his file and tell me if you change your mind," he responded and walked out. I opened up Steve Rogers' file. That comment made me think Phil knew there was some catalyst in here that would make me change my mind. I read only a few pages and I saw it. I picked up my office phone and hit Phil's connector number. _

"_I'll do it. When can I meet him?" Fury went down to the gyms with me in tow. Tony had made sure the gyms were up to par for him and Clint and to a certain extent, Natasha. Many of them, when here, never left the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility at all. Bruce certainly never did. I moved inside, following Fury, but paused while I was still near the door. I had only seen 'Captain America' once before and it had been a few days ago when he had rushed past me, trying to figure out where he was. I honestly thought he was angry at us and I knew he was confused. How could he not be confused? I moved a bit forward when I caught a good sight of him, in a tight white t-shirt, beating up a punching bag. I jolted backwards as a final blow caused it to fly across the room. He turned, sensing we were there and I stayed where I was. _

_Fury moved towards him and Steve asked, "You here with a mission, sir?"_

"_I am," Fury responded._

"_Trying to get me back in the world?"_

"_Trying to save it. You think you're the only hero out there?" I stayed back while Fury told Steve the bare minimum on the Avengers Initiative. I could tell he was still confused and no doubt, I would have to answer several questions on that. "And this is Charlotte Kent," Fury said, gesturing at me with his arm. I walked forward, terribly nervous, and stood right beside Fury. "She's an excellent agent and is well equipped to answer any question you have and help you in any way she can. She's been matched to you." Steve turned towards me at this point and up close, I noticed sweat glistening on his skin, that somehow it didn't turn me off of considering him handsome. He looked curious and well meaning, maybe a little harrowed but that was to be expected. He wasn't the tortured soul I had assumed he would be. I also noticed that even while wearing heels, he completely engulfed my frame. I'd never seen someone whose body was actually built like that. It was like he wasn't even real, he was so physically perfect in every way._

_He introduced himself to me and I told him it was nice to meet him. Then I told him that later we could really start and I was sorry for interrupting him. After awhile, I took him back to the apartment I shared with Maria Hill. I hated having her as a roommate. On the way there, I explained various technologies we passed by and different things about cars. I enjoyed how curious he was. I explained some random things about my apartment before we actually sat down with each other. "I know you're sick of people telling you that they're sorry about you so I'm not gonna say it. I'm happy about it. You'll like it in this time when you get used to it. Honestly, we couldn't have picked a better time to find you." He smiled at me, which was the first time I'd seen it, and I recognized that he appreciated how positive I was being. "I am sorry about you losing people when you didn't anticipate it. I'm sort of there with you. Working with S.H.I.E.L.D. has required me to cut personal ties with people I knew, even my family, so I understand what you're going through, though not fully."_

"_I'm sorry," he responded, a little solemn now. _

"_I'm fine with it. I've had the time to get used to it. I'm sorry I brought it up. That's not what I'm here to do." I was trying to be as professional as possible but as I had expected, I was already feeling for him. I hadn't even fully read his file and yet I felt like I knew him._

"_Can I ask you something?" I nodded. "Originally, they told me you weren't willing to work with me."_

"_You're what we consider 'damaged goods,' and I can't work with people like that. I feel too bad for them and for the most part, they don't want help. They don't want whatever change has been thrust upon them. Clearly, you're making the best of it though so I'm sorry for that judgment. But I read something in your file and decided to do it. I haven't fully read your file yet."_

"_What changed your mind?" he asked, clearly curious._

"_I'm sure you remember it but there was a test at your boot camp or whatever and they threw out a fake grenade. When everyone else ran and ducked, you grabbed it and covered it to take the blow. That's where I stopped in your file and that's why I decided to help you. Clearly, you're a great man."_

"Slow down," he said. "You'll be passed out before 8." I smiled.

"That is true." I slid the bottle towards him but grabbed it back automatically and poured myself some more. "It's my last one, I swear." I pushed the bottle towards him again. "I'm sorry about the whole I-miss-Loki spasm I had earlier. Feelings of love just happen when I'm drunk, I suppose."

"It's fine," he responded. "You can talk about it if you want." Even though I was half drunk, I could tell that this was the last thing Steve wanted to hear.

"I'm gonna shut up about it. You don't wanna hear about it and I know that." I sipped some more at my drink. Anyway, I was drinking tonight to forget about Loki, not cry over him. Sometimes, like right at that moment, I knew that Clint and Tony were right. I knew that Steve cared for me as more than a friend. Deep down, maybe I felt the same way but now I was the "damaged goods" and I certainly didn't want help nor did I want to adjust to the change. "When are we moving back to New York?" I asked before he could respond.

"I don't know. They're so busy trying to reserve some penthouse for us all and fix it so that it's useful," he responded. I rolled my eyes.

"A penthouse? Well, it's their money to waste."

"At the most, it'll be a month before we move back." I put my head in my hands. I doubted that I could make it a month without going insane. "They also want that air- Oh, I'm not supposed to tell you that." I stared across the table at him. "Fine, we have to wait on the helicarrier too."

"Sorry but I really hate being left out. I could tell from the files that maybe they were considering the helicarrier but I had no idea it was a serious endeavor. I feel like I should've known about this weeks ago."

"They want to be fully prepared to take Loki out." I sat my glass down slowly. "Maybe I'm not supposed to tell you that either." I knew he was only saying that because he was yet again trying to spare my feelings.

"That part you can keep to yourself. I know I should've snapped and been hating him and I _am _mad but still hearing about plans to take him out are disconcerting," I said, pulling the bottle across the table again and pouring myself another glass. "Okay, I promise I'm not gonna talk about him anymore." I took a sip and smiled. "This was the best idea I've had in weeks."

"Just don't come into work still drunk in the morning."

"You'll have to drag me in," I responded, throwing back the rest of my drink. "That wouldn't be the worst thing that's ever happened to me. It's not like I still have a real job there so who cares if I'm drunk? I'll be in handcuffs anyway."

"Then I'll get in trouble for letting you get this drunk." I smiled.

"You know how to make me stop," I responded, pushing the bottle to him again. "It makes me feel so guilty to think about you getting in trouble because of me 'cause you're such a good guy. I meant what I said that one night. You are beautiful and it kills me every day." I finished off my last glass.

"You are too," he responded. I laughed.

"You're not even drunk." I got up with my glass and made my way to kitchen to put it in my overflowing sink. Maybe stuff like this was why Maria Hill hated me. "But seriously," I muttered, not caring if he could hear me or not, "they made you be here 'cause they knew how much it would torture me. I hate S.H.I.E.L.D. sometimes."

"I'm pretty sure you don't mean half of the stuff you're saying right now," said Steve, who had followed me into the kitchen.

"It's better for you to think that."

I ended up sleeping on the couch after begging Steve to take the bed. I probably fell asleep on the couch beside him long before he went into my bedroom. I let my arm drop off the side of the couch in the middle of the night and I felt something. Without opening my eyes, I moved my hand along the floor again, searching for whatever it was. I was still drunk, that's what my problem was. Then I felt something gently grab my hand. I opened my eyes groggily and turned to face whatever it was.

It was Loki, sitting on the floor with his back resting against the couch. I was hallucinating because there is no way Loki would willingly sit on the floor like that. In fact, I wasn't totally sure it was him until he turned to face me. I jerked my hand away and shrunk back into the couch. I hadn't been prepared to see him again so soon. "What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice cracked with exhaustion. "Please go away." He turned to face me fully and I tried to scoot away from him, although I knew it was impossible. I didn't know if it was because I had been drinking or what but Loki looked more radiant than I'd ever seen him. He was wearing clothes I'd bought him and that caused me more happiness than it did anger. His skin was pale and flawless, even in the dark of my living room and his hands were perfect. "Is this a dream?" I asked, wondering whether I needed to call for Steve or not.

"It is," he responded. His voice sounded like silver bells and his reassurance that this wasn't really happening caused me to relax. He leaned forward and touched my hair, as he so loved to do.

"Why am I dreaming about you?" I whispered, leaning closer to him, reaching toward his chest.

"You miss me," he replied, as if that was literally the most obvious answer.

"Do you miss me wherever you are?" I asked, this time touching his face. It felt like he was really there. What an odd dream.

"Yes," he said. "Are you still angry with me?"

"Incredibly so."

"Is that why he's here?" I paused. At first, I had no idea who he could possibly be talking about.

"Are you jealous?"

"Why is he here?" Loki demanded, his voice sounding harsh. Even in my dreams, Loki despised the people I worked with.

"He's here to protect me from you," I whispered back. I sat forward on my elbows and looked at him, his face contorted from anger. I laughed a bit. "You are jealous, aren't you?"

"You're still drunk," he responded.

"Still? Have you been watching me?"

"In your dreams, I have been."

"In my dreams, you apparently still care about me."

"Apparently," he responded. "You would tell me anything, wouldn't you?"

"No, I wouldn't," I whispered back playfully, "unless you actually deserved to know."

"I want to know where my helmet is. I want to know when you leave for New York."

"I don't have those answers," I replied.

"You should find out," he breathed, then he leaned forward and touched my face with his hands.

"You're really here, aren't you?" He shook his head and finally, he kissed me. It was the same cold feeling I had always gotten, like I'd stepped outside in winter. This wasn't a dream. My eyes widened and in a flash, Loki was no longer there. I leaned back in shock. I was frozen in place and I touched my lips. They were cold.

"Were you talking to someone?" I heard Steve ask groggily, as he emerged from my bedroom. I felt like screaming. "Charlotte?"

"Oh my God," I said, sitting up fully.

"What?" asked Steve, as he rushed to sit beside me.

"He was here! I thought it was a dream!" I covered my mouth with my hand, almost to the point of being hysterical.

"Loki was here?"

"Yes! I thought it was a dream, I swear I thought it was a dream!" Before I'd realized it, Steve's arm was around my shoulders and I already felt some relief.

"I- I believe you. What happened?" He sounded almost as frantic as I felt. I went through it over in my head, trying to pick out the pieces he and S.H.I.E.L.D. would be most interested in.

"I just woke up and he was there and he said it was a dream and he told me he missed me. He demanded to know why you were here and then he wanted to know where his helmet was and when I was going back to New York… and then he kissed me." I put my head in my hands, frustrated, trying to stop them from shaking so much. "I thought I was dreaming up until that point, I swear."

"He kissed you?" I nodded, my head still buried in my hands. I felt like crying.

"He knew I was drunk too. He knew it. How can he see that? Why is he stalking me? I thought it was a dream. I didn't think for a minute he was actually really here. He kissed me. Why can't he leave me alone?" I started crying when I finally couldn't hold it back anymore. I didn't know whether to be angry or sad or hopeful that he meant all of that. He had been so desperate to convince me it was a dream.

Steve pulled me towards him and I didn't bother protesting. I clung to him fast and begged him not to leave me alone anymore.


	19. Chapter 19

When I woke up, I felt immensely uncomfortable and I noticed that I had been haphazardly sleeping on top of Steve. I breathed a deep breath and tried not to move. How the hell had this happened? What the hell was happening in my life? How drunk had I been? Maybe the better question was how emotionally distraught had I been? That's when the events with Loki flashed across my mind. I outwardly moaned. This sucked on a whole new, confusing level.

I moved slowly as to not wake Steve up but as I sat up, he made a noise. I paused, nervous. He blinked open those innocent blue eyes and focused them on me. "I am so sorry about last night," I whispered, standing up quickly. "I- uh… I think I'm gonna get ready for work." I unconsciously pointed at my bedroom. I didn't want to give him a chance to respond so I started moving, grabbing a granola bar out of my sparse kitchen and walking to my bedroom.

"Are you okay?" I heard him ask. I paused at the doorway in.

"Sure," I responded. "Like I said, I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to cry or… whatever." Or fall asleep with you because that is awfully inappropriate.

"It's fine." I gulped and my nervousness started up again.

"Thank you for everything. I mean, I'm just going insane." I needed to bite my tongue and not make this worse. Who knew what he had to report? The more unstable I sounded, the worse off I was at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I'll take care of you, it's fine," he responded. I released a breath that I felt like I'd been holding for hours. I wasn't going to deny appreciating it or that I really needed it.

I tore into my granola bar angrily as I piled my hair into a bun on top of my head, hating it because Loki loved it so much. I looked in the mirror as I was changing and took off the bandage on my wound. It wasn't noticeable at all. There was barely a mark. Something was up with this and they just weren't telling me, like they weren't telling me about anything else. There was no real point in bothering to ask.

I stalked out of my bedroom and immediately ducked into the bathroom as I caught a glimpse of Steve changing that I hadn't wanted to see. I heatedly brushed my teeth and poked my head out of the doorway afterward to see if Steve was still getting dressed. He was only adjusting his shirt. I sighed and walked past him into the kitchen, grabbing a cold Dr. Pepper and holding it against my pounding head. I wasn't sure if I was hung over or if my mind was so filled with confusion that it just couldn't take it anymore. I felt like I hadn't slept at all.

"Do you think I could get away with taking a mental health day?" I asked, leaning against the counter, the can still on my forehead.

"Honestly, probably not since this is definitive information," he responded. I took the can away from my head and cracked it open.

"Just tell them the bare minimum please," I begged. He gave me a solemn look like they had him under strict contract.

"Maybe they have a good idea to deal with this." He was trying to make it seem like they hadn't commanded him to tell them everything and I majorly appreciated it but no, they wouldn't have a good idea.

"You know as well as I do that they want me to suffer."

"That is not true."

"Don't give me that, Steve! They're not all like you and Thor or even Tony. They don't feel sorry for me, they think I deserve this. Fury certainly does. He goes out of his way to humiliate me in those meetings and I don't know who's doing it is that I'm always locked to something, but that's part of it too. They're acting like _I'm _the criminal, not Loki. I guess since they don't have Loki in custody, they feel the need to make an example of me."

"I _have _to tell them what happened. If I don't, they'll think you don't need me here. What would you rather have happen: I tell Coulson and Fury only or you just deal with this on your own?" I crossed my arms and bit my lip, looking down at the kitchen floor, knowing he was just trying to make a point. Even if he wasn't assigned to be here, Steve wouldn't just let me deal with this on my own. But the things he was saying were completely reasonable. "They're not saying that I tell everyone in a meeting. I only have to write them an email." I nodded.

"Do you honestly think they'll have a good idea for handling this?" I asked, knocking back some of the Dr. Pepper.

"At the very least, it'll speed up so we can move back sooner." I nodded again. "Did you say Loki wanted to know when we would be going to New York?"

"He did. But I told him I didn't know. He also asked about his helmet, which we still have but yet again, I have no idea where that is." Steve raised his eyebrows at me. "No, I wouldn't have told him even if I did. I mean, but doesn't he understand what he's done to ensure that I don't get access to that kind of information anymore? And why would I tell him even if I did?"

"Maybe he thinks he can still get you to talk by pretending to still be… interested… in you."

"Is that what you think it was?" I asked. He clearly didn't want to respond to that so I took his answer as a no.

"Maybe it's better that you explain it to them."

"You know I can't do that," I said, grabbing my purse and bringing the Dr. Pepper with me. I tossed Steve the keys and walked out the front door.

"You're gonna have to try," he responded as we got into my Jeep. As much as it pained me to admit it, Steve handled driving my car a lot better than I did. I would grieve not having it in New York.

"I thought it was your job to relay this stuff to them," I said as we drove to the office.

"He had a conversation with you. I think they'll want exact details."

"I told you everything," I responded. The only thing I could have possibly left out was the playful way we talked to each other and I wasn't about to admit to that in the court of law that was S.H.I.E.L.D. "Can we just do it together?"

"Yeah, I'm good with that." I was relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with this alone. "Did you take a look at your side this morning?" I nodded.

"It's barely there. I can't even notice it. I didn't bother putting a new bandage on. It wasn't needed."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm not lying. There's something about it that they're not telling me and I wanna know what it is."

"It's probably some experimental medicine they gave you without you knowing. You know how S.H.I.E.L.D. likes stuff like that." I shrugged, still not thinking that that was it. I didn't want to think badly of Steve but he clearly knew whatever it was that I didn't and it was getting under my skin.

"If you knew for sure what it was, you would tell me, wouldn't you?" He nodded. Then I offered over my wrists for the handcuffs and walked into the office with him. I lifted up my shirt while we were in the elevator for him to get a better look. "See? I mean, it's barely there. I don't even think it's gonna leave a scar. That's impossible, right?" He touched the area around it and I shook my head. "It doesn't hurt at all."

"That's lucky, considering how bad it could've been." I nodded and walked out of the elevator with Steve holding my arm, escorting me. If the goal was to make me seem like less of a prisoner, that stance wasn't helping me any. I kept my head tilted to the ground as he walked me in front of the already full cubes. We paused as we ran into Fury and Phil, who were talking to Bruce. "We've got some information," said Steve. I glanced towards the back where Tony and Clint were peeking over the tops of the cubicle walls. Thor was holding a stapler curiously and was watching us. I didn't want to glance at anyone else. Hell, even the secretaries were probably staring at me right now.

"Go on," said Fury, turning to us.

"Can we go to your office?" I kept my gaze on the floor. Fury _wanted_ everyone to know.

"Anything you've got to say, you can say it right here. We're all entitled to this."

"No, I don't think so," I said, butting in. "This is personal."

"Well, you lost your right to privacy the minute you decided to betray us. You tell us everything or I'll make sure that you are in a holding room until we go back to New York and when you're there, I'll make sure that you are in prison." I shook my head. I felt Steve pull me closer to him, obviously worried that I was about to act out.

"You unimaginable bastard," I said. "I'm not telling you anything. Put me in your damn prison! I'd be safer there!"

"Charlotte, back off," said Phil.

"Oh no, I've had enough of this." I turned back to Fury. "The fact that it makes you so happy that I am so miserable is absolutely disgusting. You're lucky that I don't tell Loki everything about you and the headquarters. I'll do it too so you better start treating me with some respect!" He smirked at me. "What the hell is it now?"

"You wouldn't dare risk putting anyone here in danger."

"The hell I wouldn't! Why do you keep me cuffed then? I know you think that I'm still in good with him. I don't know what gave you that impression but I can make sure he has access to all the information here on everyone. I can make sure he knows what you're planning to do. Don't think I wouldn't do it." Steve gripped my arm harder and I knew he was nervous I would actually do it.

"You would die before you would put Steve and Tony and Clint in a situation like that. Your file says it all. Don't try to blackmail us, Charlotte. We know you won't do anything."

"Yes, I would. I would make sure that he took you out first."

"My advice to you, Charlotte, is that you stop acting like an Avenger. You aren't one and you never will be. If you go rogue, we will kill you and none of us would think twice about it." Steve jerked me towards him and I didn't resist.

"Well, I sure as hell would," said Tony, looking over his cube. "Sorry but I'm not killing her. I'd bet all of my money that Steve wouldn't lay a finger on her no matter how many times you ordered him to. Clint isn't doing it. I think you ought to take her threat seriously. I would." With that, Tony sank back down into his chair and out of view.

"Listen, she's…" Steve trailed off.

"I'm on the edge of a mental breakdown, Steve. You can say it," I said.

"Well, let's stop the inane arguing and get back to whatever happened," said Phil. I raised my eyebrows at Fury and he and Phil began to walk down the hallway towards an office. Steve and I fell behind and dropped my arm. I actually felt like I'd been relying on that to keep me standing.

"I'm sorry about that," he whispered down at me. "I wanted to say something but I couldn't think."

"I know. For the most part, I couldn't either," I responded. "They would really kill me, wouldn't they?"

"I wouldn't let them and my guess is Loki wouldn't either." I bit my bottom lip.

"Don't do anything stupid if they decide they need to."

"If you stop being a loose cannon, they won't begin to think of that." I gulped. I couldn't promise anything now. Fury was always an ass to anyone who wasn't a member of his precious Avengers but now I knew how little value I was to them. They were keeping me around as leverage for Loki and that made me feel worse than anything else.

We sat at a table in one of the empty office rooms. The two of them on one side, Steve and I on the other. My hands were fiddling in my lap and my eyes were focused on them rather than on Phil or Fury. "So what happened?" asked Phil. I explained it slowly and none of them interrupted me.

"I thought it was a dream and… he kissed me," I said, admitting it. "I didn't start it, I promise you." My hands were shaking thinking about it.

"Don't let him get in your head," said Phil. "He clearly thinks that if you believe he cares for you, then you'll tell him what he wants to know. Apparently, he wants his helmet and he wants New York." I still wasn't looking up.

"How could you have possibly believed that was a dream?" demanded Fury.

"It didn't seem real and he kept telling it was one."

"Well, did you answer him?"

"I don't have the answers to either of the questions he asked. You've made sure of that."

"Are you saying you would have if you'd known?" asked Phil.

"It's not like that. But I did think it was a dream so who knows what I would've said?"

"All because he kissed you and made you think he loved you," said Fury.

"Can you stop treating me like I'm some high schooler with a crush? This threat is real. He kissed me at the end, not before he asked me those questions. He wanted me to think it was a dream."

"He wanted you to think there was a slim chance he felt for you." I shook my head.

"I'm done with this," I responded. "There's no point in arguing with you." I smoothed down my pants to keep my hands from shaking anymore.

"Where were you while this happened?" Phil asked of Steve.

"I was asleep too but I heard her talking to someone and when I came out, he'd just disappeared," he responded.

"Obviously, night is the time he prefers to come."

"I'm not leaving her alone if that's what you're saying."

"Charlotte, you can go back to your desk," said Fury. "We need to discuss some things with him." I nodded and stood up. It was unusual that they were letting me go somewhere by myself but I didn't think anything of it. Unfortunately, this was the time where I would have benefited from having someone with me.

I walked down the hallway towards the bathrooms and without warning, the lights turned off. I was thrown against the wall, someone's hand over my mouth. I tried to scream and then I felt whoever it was lean closer to me. They pulled me towards them and said, "Don't play games. I'll kill you." It was Loki. Of course, it was Loki. I tried to jerk away anyway and he threw me up against the wall again, my hair falling out of it's bun and cascading around my shoulders. "You best be careful," he whispered, yanking me forward and forcing me into the bathroom. He let me go but stood in front of the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded. "They can see you!"

"Why do you care?"

"I can't protect you here," I said. "Why are you doing here? You can't just kidnap me. They know you're here. They can see you."

"Then I'll make it quick. I'm looking for something that belongs to me."

"I don't know where your helmet is, Loki." I moved to walk past him but he pushed me back. "If I knew, I'd tell you!"

"I don't believe that."

"You don't have to believe it. Now let me go if you wanna get out of here without getting caught."

"I'm not worried about that." I crossed my arms and nodded. If he didn't want to leave then I would stall him until someone found us. It wouldn't take long for one of the secretaries to stumble in here or for someone to look at the security cameras when they realized I was missing. "I'm sorry about last night."

"No, you aren't. Okay, that was a dirty trick. I'm sick of these games. Why won't you leave me alone?"

"You don't wish for me to leave you alone and I don't wish to stop. I meant the things I told you last night." I gulped. I had thought that he had because he had been trying so hard to convince me that it wasn't at all real.

"What have you been doing? Making some shady deals out in the 9 realms?" He smirked over at me.

"You know me so well. But I'm not here to talk. I want my helmet and I want to know when you'll be in New York."

"I don't have that information."

"Then you better find out," he said, heatedly.

"They won't tell me anything anymore. You made sure of that when you hurt me for trying to help you!"

"That was for your own good." I noticed that he was getting angry at my accusations and that he was staring at my hair, not my face. He was so obsessed with it. "I would gladly hurt you again if it would mean you would give me what I want." I noticed that he had that spear he'd had before and my survival instincts kicked in.

I gripped the counter before trying to push past him towards the door. He grabbed me and prevented me from getting far and I screamed while trying to tear away at him. Loki let me go for an instant but only to grab the chain connecting my handcuffs to pull me towards him. I grimaced at him and he returned an angry face. He let go of my hands and reached behind my neck. Within an instant, I felt my head feel lighter. "Maybe I can hate you now," he whispered and then grabbed my hands again, this time to break the handcuffs. "You shouldn't be in those things."

I moved backwards and he disappeared. I tilted my head and saw the mirror. My hair had been chopped to my ears, all of it's length gone. He had cut my hair off. I guess the story about him turning Sif's hair black was true.

**Hey! The hair thing is referring to something I read about Loki being so jealous of Sif's blonde hair that he turned it black to match his own. Maybe that's not fully correct but it fits with him, I think. As we all know, he was obsessed with Charlotte's hair too.**


	20. Chapter 20

The short hair didn't bother me. I actually felt like thanking Loki for taking away the major thing that reminded me of him and on top of that, he'd busted these handcuffs. I took a look in the mirror again. I could even out this choppiness. Leave it to me to think of my impromptu haircut and not the fact that my life had been threatened at least twice in that conversation.

I ducked out into the hallway, trying to pretend the cuffs were still connected. Maybe there was a way I would be able to talk to only Steve and I could leave early. Gosh, I didn't want to deal with the questions that were inevitable, what had he wanted and why had he cut my hair. Truthfully, I didn't know why he'd cut my hair. The words he'd said were something like, "Maybe I can hate you now." Was he trying to make himself not attracted to me? If that was the case then I deserved to break his nose. Steve was teaching me how to shoot a gun after this. Who cares if it would kill Loki or not? It would make me feel better.

I stood in the dark of the hallway while staring at the cubes. Steve wasn't there. They must've noticed I'd gone missing. I walked out in front of them, no longer caring and I tripped. As usual, I hit the floor with a jolt of pain. Then I was pulled up and pushed against the wall, a guard's hand against my shoulder. I bet the Avengers were tired of the soap opera of my life as Public Enemy #1. "What the hell is it now?" I heard Clint ask. "Who's the fugitive this time?"

"The same one," the guard replied and moved out of the way. Another man pushed my shaggy hair out of my face and I looked forward at the cubes, indignant.

"What happened?" demanded Thor. I just smiled and put my hands up, the broken cuffs sliding down my wrists a little.

"Where is he?" screeched one of the guards.

"You tell me," I said back. "Take a look at those freaking security tapes." I noticed that Fury, Phil, and Steve had walked in front of me. "I told ya I'd be safer in prison," I said to Fury.

"How are your cuffs broken?" asked Phil.

"He told me I shouldn't be in them."

"Do I even need to ask about the hair?"

"I told you, look at the damn security tapes." I decided to talk a big game but I really was kind of scared. I was more than a little shaken by how forceful Loki had been. But I wasn't going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. see that. They could think I was hitting the sheets with Loki for all I cared.

"We've seen them." I shrugged and the guards grabbed me off the wall. I kept my arms in the air. "Fit her in new handcuffs."

"No," Steve said. I gaped at him. "Not now and if anyone's escorting her, it's gonna be me." I breathed a sigh of relief. These guards genuinely hated me. They'd hurt me.

"I won't try to get away from him," I promised.

"She's going in a holding room," said Fury.

"If you want him to come back, that's the best way to do it. Isolate me."

"You'd see him in private anyway."

"Well, if you feel that way, I can't wait to tell Loki how you've been treating me. He won't be pleased. But seriously, do you think I invited him here so I could get a haircut? I'm getting a little freaked." Fury rolled his eyes and waved his hand. The guards pushed me towards Steve and I had never been more relieved.

"Group meeting now!" said Fury as he and Phil breezed down the hallway. Steve and I followed them while the other Avengers were getting organized.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked as he grabbed my arm and led me forward. I shook my head.

"Did you see what happened?" I asked, assuming they'd shown him the film that they had. He shook his head. "It was a little more than abrasive. He told me he would hurt me, maybe kill me."

"Are you serious?" he asked, dropping my arm. "You need to tell them that and maybe they'll stop treating you like this."

"They saw it and I'm certain they know what he said, aside from when the hallway was dark and he threw me against a wall." He looked concerned, maybe more concerned than I actually felt about it. "I just can't believe that he's coming here now… and basically kidnapping me." We arrived in the meeting room and I sat between Steve and Clint because they weren't locking me to the table for once.

"We're moving back to New York at the end of the week. I was able to make arrangements for everything to be ready ahead of schedule. At the very least, your issues, Ms. Kent, have made our deadline be pushed up," said Fury. I nodded, actually really glad to be going back ahead of when expected.

"What's the plan from there?" I asked.

"We're doing as Stark suggested. You'll be moving in and staying with the Avengers and myself." I almost openly grimaced. I didn't like the idea of my privacy really being construed and Fury being there made it ten times worse. I understood the need for it but I wasn't happy.

"Are you sure you have the room?"

"Definitely and some of the rooms connect to others. We'll be sure to give you one of those." Another thing I didn't like; someone could come in any time they wanted. Maybe I would connect with Natasha and that would be fine and reasonable. Clint nudged me at the mention of the connecting rooms.

"Of course, we assume that Loki wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything there," said Phil. "How would he even know where we were?"

"That's what he wants to know," I responded. "He targeted me today to ask about when we were moving back. He wants to keep tabs on all of us."

"Or he wants to keep tabs on you," said Steve. I turned my head and bit my lower lip. That thought made me more nervous than I had thought it would. In a certain part of my mind, I thought it was romantic but the common sense part knew it was all about strategy.

"Well, in order to complete information on what happened today, we need you to tell us what happened when he hit the lights in the hallway," said Phil. I played with my hands in my lap again; obviously, my hands show exactly how nervous I am. They were always shaking.

"He hit the lights and then automatically, I was thrown against the wall and he'd covered my mouth. I tried to scream but he threatened me so I didn't. He forced me around a bit and then I was in the bathroom. It was certainly nerve wracking."

"He had almost playful banter with you in the bathroom." I nodded.

"That's the way we are with each other. He gets off on games. I thought you knew that by now." I watched as he scribbled something down in an open file; the one on me most likely. Maybe even the one on Loki. I hadn't gotten to comprise that one. I noticed a transcript of the conversation Loki and I had had in the bathroom was sitting on the table. I sank back in my chair and fiddled with my hands some more.

"We want to know why he targeted your hair." I smiled.

"He was just beyond jealous of it. He loved it. I think it was the beginning of his attraction to me and he cut it to stop that." I playfully tossed my hair with one hand. "I ought to thank him. It was a reminder of him."

"I suppose that he really did turn Sif's hair black," said Thor.

They then showed the video that they had of what happened, narrating what we said to each other. I wasn't pleased when they said that Loki told me he had meant what he said last night. None of them knew about the so called "dream" so Fury had to pause it to explain that as well but luckily, without narrating our conversation. I was really uncomfortable and kept my head down. Then the video showed when I snapped and tried to get past Loki. My hands started shaking again just thinking of it. When it was turned off, all I could think of was one thing.

"I think you need to give me a gun," I said. "I wanna learn to shoot." No one seemed to take the idea seriously, certainly not Phil and Fury, not even Natasha.

"I think it's a stellar idea," said Clint. "It gets out a lot of anger."

"You'd be sexy with a gun," said Tony. I tried to keep from laughing.

"Then somebody's helping me when we get to New York."

"There's no way you're getting a gun," said Phil. "There is absolutely no way." I shrugged. If they wanted me to get killed, it would certainly happen.

"Who knows?" said Tony. "She could come in handy. Oh and by the way, I actually like your hair," he said, directing a comment at me.

"Thanks. I think I can work with it." It honestly didn't look bad, not even with the rough way it had been cut off. I could fix it later.

They dismissed us rather quickly and I enjoyed being able to have a bit of free will in the work place again because I had those cuffs broken. It still seemed like I was a bit of a social pariah but Clint and Tony kept me busy because they were butting heads. Their friendship had bouts of being the greatest bromance I'd ever seen and then bouts of how they would really let their egos flare. Both of them were sarcastic assholes and both of them thought they were secretly better than the other. This time I knew the animosity was stemming from moving back to New York. As the day progressed, they were no longer only targeting each other. Thor was getting a few sly remarks behind his back as was Steve. I didn't say anything. All of them were going to fight once it sunk in that they really had to be a team. Even Steve would probably snap but I had no doubt that it would only be on Tony. Occasionally, Tony really needed a drastic wakeup call to remind him that he isn't the only person on the planet.

Thor had been having some real difficulty adjusting to having humans giving him instructions but he had vowed to fight for humanity. The problems for Thor were probably only beginning because the person we were going up against was someone he had been raised to think of as family. Neither of them truly hated the other. I could tell that about Loki even when he steaming over how betrayed he felt. They were still brothers, even if not by blood.

When the day finally ended, I was fitted in new handcuffs and the bracelets of the last pair were finally taken off. The new handcuffs were off as soon as I was in the car. As we drove home, I told Steve I would pack first and then we could go over to his old place and see if he needed to pack anymore things. He agreed and then proceeded to tell me that my haircut didn't look bad. I nodded. I planned on fixing it as soon as I got home.

"Listen, I don't mean to be sounding needy but we're gonna have to be together 24/7 until we leave," I said, grabbing a pair of scissors and heading into the bathroom to layer out my hair. Steve stood in the doorway.

"That's what they advised me to do this morning when Loki got you in the hallway," he replied. I shrugged.

"They couldn't have said that with me there?" I held up a piece of hair and shortened it, trying to make my hair have a hassle-free cut. "I mean, what's the point of them assigning you to be my 'bodyguard' if they don't even have you escort me?"

"They have me live with you." I laughed. "Besides, who would've thought that he would even show up at S.H.I.E.L.D., let alone physically do anything to you?"

"I just feel like they should've been prepared for anything concerning him."

"I'm sorry it happened to you. Maybe they aren't but I feel guilty that I wasn't there."

"Don't do that," I said, finishing the final parts of my hair. "It's totally not your fault and they're right. He would have come to me privately anyway. That conversation would've happened here as surely as it did there. He wants to do stuff when you're not around."

"It wouldn't have happened here because after last night, I'm not leaving you alone."

"What if I had to take a shower? He would've come in here then. Oh, don't make that face, you know he would do it. If there's one thing about Loki, it's that he doesn't understand human boundaries." I rolled my eyes.

"Speaking of him, I'm wondering what he's up to."

"I wasn't lying in that security tape. He's out making deals to get help. Hell, maybe Tony's right and he's out for 'world domination.'" I used air quotes sarcastically. "Loki is one man and not one whose physical strength is his strong suit. He needs help. He's a pretty shady guy and he's got a lot to offer some of those aliens out there in the 9 realms. And there's nothing we can do to stop that because we don't know where he is."

"Thor might."

"Pressuring Thor right now is not a good idea for anybody. How do you think he feels about Loki? Probably just as conflicted as I do, if not more so. Beyond that, he's not used to working with humans. I think that's why Fury is catering to everything he wants. When we go back to New York, every one of you is going to be in for a wakeup call."

"I certainly think that Tony and Clint have already realized it."

"You heard them?" I asked. I moved into my bedroom to start throwing my things into a suitcase.

"It was hard not to hear," he responded, handing me some stuff from my closet. "I'm sorry but I just can't stand Tony a lot of the time."

"I can't either although lately, I've liked him a lot better just because he's been defending me. But he's a total jerk and he thinks he's the best member of the team. No one is gonna like that."

"You're the one who actually got him on the team, aren't you?"

"I'm not proud of it 'cause obviously, he's only out for himself."

The rest of the week went by quickly although I didn't get much sleep. There weren't any other meetings; only an email that told everyone what time Tony's private plane would take off and when we needed to be at the tarmac. I rolled my eyes when I opened the email. Of course, Tony had a private plane. His money could fix any problem he ever had. The members of S.H.I.E.L.D. who weren't the Avengers and Fury, Phil, and myself, had to fly on a regular airline and most definitely at a different time. I always had to fly coach with the other employees but now, I was a fugitive. If they wanted me to stop thinking of myself as important then they needed to stop treating me that way. A lot of people within the office clearly thought I was still in contact with Loki. My computer was on lock down and every time I got out my cell phone, someone was taking it apart and scanning it's memory.

The only benefits of being a certified criminal were that I could get Clint and Tony to do things for me, like grab my lunch during break. I could just raise my arms above the cube walls to flaunt my cuffs whenever they complained and they'd do what I wanted. Tony was back to the way he'd been when I'd first started working with him, a massive flirt. Natasha and I and to some extent, any woman who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. had to deal with Tony or Clint trying to come onto them. Natasha and I simply got the brunt of it because of how closely we had to work with them.

Everyone loved my hair, especially Natasha since she had recently cut hers to a style similar to mine. Clint said we looked a little like sisters except that my large eyes tended to make me look younger and my hair was shades darker than hers. Having it a lot shorter made my hair curl around my face more. I thought it was cute and apparently, so did everyone else.

Steve let me drive to the tarmac as it would be my last experience with my beloved Jeep Cherokee. In New York, there was no point to owning a car due to the traffic and S.H.I.E.L.D. sent cars to pick up important employees anyway. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that I used to be one of the "important" ones. Maria, my ex-roommate, was the one who warranted chauffeuring and I was just along for the ride. Of course, now I would be living with the Avengers in the mansion or pent house or whatever it was they had organized. She would be livid once she found out. She wanted Fury's job and it wasn't a secret to anyone. I was hard pressed to decide who of them would be the better boss. I was beginning to think that maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the best side to be on.

I got out of the Jeep and left the keys inside. It was easily the greatest car I'd ever driven. Then I was cuffed and escorted over to Tony's plane. Everyone else was apparently already there. I barely had the time to walk away from Steve before Tony was walking over. Steve went over to talk to Phil about something, no doubt about the living arrangements in New York.

"Oh Miss Charlotte, you're lookin' lovely this mornin'!" said Tony in a fake Southern accent. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't make fun of me," I replied.

"Well, seriously, we're ready to board and they want you on first."

"Don't tell me that I'm gonna be under arrest on the plane."

"I tried to say there was no point to keep you under wraps when we're all around you but hey, you know how they are now." I sighed and nodded. As if planes weren't claustrophobic enough, I was now going to be under arrest and more than likely, locked to the seat. I forgot a lot of the time that technically I could be in jail right now if Fury deemed that appropriate. I was lucky that they were so frightened that I was still carrying on with Loki. Honestly, if he hadn't been such an ass, I probably would be. "Well, you and Steve will be near the front of the plane and you have to sit by the window. Something about obstructing you from doing something to anyone." Tony sounded skeptical about the terms and I was pissed I even had to deal with them.

"What if I stab Steve with a pen or something? What are they gonna do then?" I wanted to cross my arms to get the point across but that was futile.

Tony smiled a bit like he knew a secret that I didn't. I raised my eyebrows. "They know you won't hurt Steve."

"If I'm the loose cannon they think I am, how are you sure I won't?" Again, I was being a big talker but I knew there was no possible way I would hurt Steve, mentally or physically. I was completely passive against him. He'd been hurt enough, after being displaced in time, and he clearly thought a lot of me; one of the only people who did so.

"They haven't said for sure but I think Fury had them place a camera in your living room when they put up that security perimeter, although clearly not a great one if they never saw Loki." Loki always came when it was pitch black.

"What the f-"

"Besides, Charlotte, you can play it big all you want but you're a sweetheart to him. We all see it. That's why they even wanted him to work with you. They know you'll never hurt him. You could hate all of the rest of us but you would never do anything to him." I was almost quaking with rage. The idea that my privacy had been invaded to that point was making me extremely mad. Now I knew why Bruce struggled with anger.

"I can't believe they would something like that!" At least it hadn't been able to see all parts of the house, like my bedroom or even my kitchen and no doubt it didn't record volume.

"I don't know for sure that they did. It's either that or Steve has been pretty plain about you making sure he's comfortable. Whatever it is, _I _didn't need a camera to see it. Clint and I have told you plainly for _months _how it is."

"It's not like we're making out on the couch, Tony! We're friends!" He put his hands in the air playfully.

"Whatever you say. I'm on your side, Charlotte. It's the others you have to worry about." Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me forward to board the plane. "I've been meaning to ask you," he said quietly, "about your side." I thought it was weird because he'd never asked before but I answered him.

"It's completely gone," I replied. "There's no scar, nothing at all to show that it even happened."

"That's some curiously strong medicine."


	21. Chapter 21

After I was locked in my seat, I shot back a sleeping pill, as I was certain, the rest of the Avengers were doing as well. I wanted to forget I was even on a plane and I hadn't been sleeping at all recently anyway. It hadn't been that I was uncomfortable with Steve being around literally all the time, it had more to do with letting my guard down at all where Loki could strike. I figured there was no possible way he knew about this plane or New York. I literally hadn't laid eyes on him since the incident in the office. That certainly didn't mean that he hadn't been around. I knew that anything very suspicious could be attributed to him.

I dozed off with my head against the window. When I woke up the whole cabin was dark and I could vaguely hear Fury and Phil having some kind of conversation that no doubt involved me. Thor wasn't relaxed at all because it was his first time on a plane but everyone else was probably asleep. I groggily opened my eyes further and noticed that I was no longer leaning against the window. I turned my head a bit and noticed that I had been sleeping on Steve's shoulder. How the hell had this happened? My heart started pounding like it had that day in the office when his leg had accidentally brushed mine. Gosh, I was acting like a high schooler and I was still exhausted. I didn't bother moving because he was sort of leaning against me too and I didn't want to wake him. I just fell back asleep until the plane was about to land and Tony woke us all up.

I jolted away from Steve at Tony's voice and I noticed that Tony and Clint were laughing at me, as usual. No doubt they thought this had been funny. I stared away from the three of them out the window. It was just one new embarrassment after another when it came to me. "So we're there?" I asked, completely blowing it off. I heard Clint trying to contain another laugh.

"Almost but you can go back to sleep if you want."

"Seriously, you can just fu-"

"Oh, the attitude. Sorry I woke you, princess."

"Whoa, Charlotte, you better wash that mouth out. What would your parents think?" kidded Tony. I turned and looked at them, fake laughing.

"Ya'll think you're so funny."

"Well, we are." They went back to their seats to buckle in for when we landed. I turned to Steve, who still appeared groggy. He was an incredibly hard sleeper. I always joked that that was the reason he'd been frozen for so long.

"Sorry… again," I said. The stuff I'd been doing with Steve lately, although for the most part accidental, was totally inappropriate and all it did was make me nervous. I couldn't even imagine the way he felt about it.

He shook his head without fully looking at me. "It… It didn't bother me." I nodded and looked down at my cuffs. What did that mean? Had he liked it? Why am I even contemplating this?

"Hey, Charlotte," said Tony, poking his head over the top of my seat. I looked up, feigning curiosity at his newest ploy.

"Yes, Mr. Stark?" He winced at the formality.

"Don't let your Southern belle get the best of you. But I was gonna tell you that I'm making you a playlist of songs about your life." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't bother with that." I noticed Clint was leaning forward too and Steve was just listening to them because he couldn't possibly get away.

"I was thinking Judas by Lady Gaga as track one."

"Judas? What the hell?"

"Listen to the lyrics. It's kind of your love life."

"And I picked one," said Clint. "How bout a little Set Fire to the Rain by Adele?" I had to laugh at that one because certain parts actually were true.

"Seriously, how much time do ya'll have on your hands?" I asked.

"It's not gonna be much anymore," said Tony, leaning back. I could tell that he really hated the idea of working with other people and giving them equal time. There had already been rumors that the Avengers needed a team leader and Tony had been making it no secret that he thought he deserved to be it.

"Oh, they're so annoying," I said to Steve loud enough that they would hear it. He smiled and nodded. He wasn't going to agree out loud where they could respond to him. Steve was Tony's favorite to pick on and the insults were never ending. Steve probably actually hadn't heard most of them. "Okay, be honest, do you think I'm gonna have to wear these handcuffs in the house too?"

He shook his head. "All of us will be there and you're getting a connecting room." I grimaced.

"I forgot about that. What if I get Tony? Oh, the horror."

"Maybe they'll let you pick." I gave him a look. "Oh, you're right. They would never let that happen."

Then the plane landed and I was unlocked from the table and escorted out last. Well, next to last. Thor came behind us, mostly because he was nervous. I was actually really hoping that Thor might be who my room connected to. I kind of felt like I was harboring a crush for him even though I knew I wasn't. I just had a soft spot for Thor because we automatically clicked.

I hadn't been expecting the greeting party we got, headed by Maria Hill. I knew a lot of the people there, having worked with them before having to recruit Thor. So their reaction to me being a fugitive was a particular joy. Maria, my ex-roommate and second to Fury, looked almost pleased that I was in manacles. I stood back as Thor was given an introduction then I caught a glimpse of someone in the mass of S.H.I.E.L.D. employees. I openly gulped, guessing that it was probably some trick my mind was playing on me. But sure enough, Loki was there, clothed in a well-fitting suit and a dark green scarf. I wondered how no one was noticing him but me. Our eyes connected and I got an intense chill. I felt like I was on fire and freezing at the same time. My hip began to hurt even though it was fully healed. How was he even here? He smirked at me, like he'd read my mind and on instinct, I grabbed Steve's hand with both of mine to make him notice Loki. It instantly made me feel better.

Before I knew it, Loki had vanished. I felt frozen in place and I couldn't make myself let go of Steve's hand. I looked up at him, trying not to act suspicious to the others and gave him a look; one that maybe didn't fully convey that I'd seen him but it did convey that something was wrong. I had thought we were safe here. I would never have guessed that he knew where we were. This was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s private landing strip. Everything was locked and loaded and entirely professional. There was no possible way he knew where I was. Now I had to wonder whether he knew where we would be staying as well.

"And as you can tell, Charlotte Kent, our resident researcher," began Fury, pointing at me. I dropped Steve's hand so that none of them noticed. Maybe they already had. Fury went on to explain that I been consorting with the enemy and that it was very irresponsible of me to believe anything the god of mischief said. I bit my lip and resisted saying any of my usual smartass comments to Fury. This was punishment enough without me having to fight back. I stared straight into the crowd, almost searching for Loki now. I kept feeling myself wishing that he would come and snatch me away from this life as a prisoner. It made me feel weak to admit that I maybe still wanted to be with Loki but I knew there were a lot of things that the Avengers weren't telling me. They had meetings without me there. The most curious thing had been about how my side had fully healed and they wanted to claim it was some miracle medicine they'd come up with. I noticed they weren't selling it; they weren't giving it to anyone else. A drug like that would be worth giving out. But I didn't want to not trust the Avengers. For the most part, they were my friends. If I couldn't trust Steve or Clint or hell, even Thor, I would be completely alone. That's probably exactly what Loki wanted.

I was jolted from my thoughts when Thor came over to me and Steve and told Steve that "Son of Coul" wanted to speak with him. I knew the conversation didn't include me but I wanted to come anyway. I didn't want to be left alone, for once. Steve gave me a pained look but I nodded, making it seem like I was fine with it. He walked away but kept glancing over as Phil gave him and Tony the lowdown on the living arrangements. Luckily, Thor was still standing with me. "I need to ask something of you," he said with that booming voice. I breathed out. I could only imagine what it was about.

"Yes," I responded.

"I wish to know if you saw him too." He gave me an incredibly heartbreaking look, like he wished Loki was still there. I felt so bad for him that I just nodded. Loki had been haunting me, like some sort of ghost, for awhile now so the shock today had come from him knowing where I was, not seeing him. Seeing him wasn't unusual. Sure, it hurt and it made me mad but I was used to it. A lot of times I even welcomed catching a glimpse of him. But then it hit me why Thor was so visibly upset by it. This was the first time he'd seen Loki since he'd fallen from Asgard.

"I'm so sorry," I said. He shook his head.

"I have not seen him in such a long while."

"I know," I responded, feeling like hugging him. Thor acted in raw emotions, almost like a child. It was his most endearing quality to me. If he was hurt, you automatically knew it. He'd hidden it very well during his introduction. "I'm so sorry," I said again.

"I feel like forgiving him," he said, lowering his regular loud voice. That struck a chord with me because I'd felt like forgiving Loki too. Maybe that was the reason Thor and I got on so well; we still trusted in Loki, we still loved him.

"Me too," I said. I put my hand on his arm and nodded at him, hoping an affectionate touch might make him feel better. He tried to smile at me. "I won't tell them that I saw him," I said. "And if you don't say anything, it'll make things easier on the both of us." This might've been the one time it was imperative that I tell S.H.I.E.L.D. what was going on; Loki was in New York when we had been certain there was no way he knew where we were. But there was no real proof that he'd even physically been here. He knew New York was where we were going, he just didn't know when. He had the resources to figure out where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operatives were. If he showed up in the mansion where we were staying, that's when I would report to them. Other than that, Loki was showing up simply because he was clever.

"You do not want them to know?" I shook my head. Thor didn't need to be dragged into this. It was going to be bad enough for him to fight with Loki. I wasn't naïve. I knew they would eventually confront each other. Loki was a real threat to everyone here but he had wanted Thor. Maybe if he'd realized that Thor was willing to forgive him, some of this would never have happened. Maybe we'd still be playing house, although I doubted it.

He nodded down at me. Then we had to ride into the city. I got in the backseat of Tony's car. Of course, he'd insisted he drive himself. He didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D.'s drivers. I sat in the middle, in between Thor and Steve. I rolled my eyes. It was always me. Clint got in the passenger's seat and Tony drove off. I wondered where Bruce and Natasha were. They were missing out on the car of men I was in. I had to admit, I couldn't have been in there with better looking guys. All four of them were gorgeous.

"Am I gonna be blindfolded so I can't tell where we're staying?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Funny that you mention that," said Tony. I groaned.

"There is no way. Oh my gosh, there is no way that's actually happening."

"No, you're right, it's not." I leaned back further, relaxing. "It's just fun to distress you." I faked a laugh. I kept my arms close to me, trying to avoid touching Thor and Steve unnecessarily. Clint and Tony went to yapping about who could beat the other in a fight.

"What happened back there?" Steve asked me and I froze further. I hadn't forgotten that I'd grabbed his hand; it had actually been running through my mind since then, on a reel with seeing Loki.

"I thought I saw something but it was totally just my mind. I'm still groggy from the flight," I responded. He still looked skeptical but nodded and tried to keep to his side of the backseat. I turned my head and exchanged a look with Thor. Both of us were better off without that getting out.

When we arrived behind the building, I realized it was actually the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. Apparently, we were staying in a penthouse. It was rather lucky to be having access to S.H.I.E.L.D. at all times. I went up with all of the Avengers and when we arrived inside, I was actually shocked at how large it was. There was an upstairs where I assumed our rooms were and the downstairs was nice. They obviously wanted to promote some sort of camaraderie.

My cuffs were off the minute I stepped off the elevator. I happily ran my fingers through my short hair. It wasn't as curly as it usually was, probably due to how nervous I had been about flying. I unconsciously twirled strands of my hair as we all waited for more instructions. It was almost like being assigned a roommate all over again and having to take a tour of the dorm.

"Your bags have already been taken to your rooms," said Fury. "I trust you can find them. You'll notice that all of the rooms connect to another in some way. Charlotte's doors to the other rooms will always stay open." Other _rooms? _Always open? "I hope group dynamic improves from having to live together because you all need to get it together fast. If you're getting a little rusty on your fighting skills, you know where the gym is. If you're getting a little aggressive with each other, I'm not opposed to you having it out. The egos and testosterone in this room could make me sick. Some of you need to be cut down to size. As far as news on the house amenities, get used to buying your own groceries and anything else. One other thing, since we moved back ahead of schedule, some things haven't been fully remodeled yet. Unfortunately, you're all sharing a bathroom for the time being. I'll see you all later." Natasha and I groaned out loud. With that, Fury and Phil walked to the elevator and went down.

I breathed out and followed the others up the stairs. Natasha, Bruce, and Thor stalked down the hallway, dashing my hopes of having a girl or a god as one of my connector roommates. I opened the door to the bedroom in the middle of the hallway. It had a queen bed in the middle of the room and dark green decoration. It seemed that they'd tried to fix us a special room for our personalities, given how I had entirely white Southern-looking furniture and a bed with a gorgeous headboard, but the dark green only served to remind me of Loki. My bags were sitting on the end of the bed. As I moved forward, I noticed two doors on either side of the room. They appeared to be closets but I knew they weren't. I went to the one on the right first and pulled it open. Clint was inside that room, playing with one of his bows. "What's up, roomie?" I asked, walking into his room. They'd framed everything in purple, a perfect "Hawkeye" color.

"Damn, I was hoping I'd get Tasha," he responded playfully.

"You've given her a nickname now? How does she like that?" I crossed my arms.

"She doesn't which is why I keep using it. But hey, I still get some nice scenery since you've got to keep your doors open." He winked slyly and I hit him on the shoulder.

"You're such a skeeze!"

"Who's on the other side of you?" he responded.

"I dunno. I haven't looked. I'm kinda nervous that it's Tony since I have you over here."

"It's not Tony. Apparently, his room connects with Bruce's."

"Ah, hell, we're in for some late nights." I knew how much Tony enjoyed trying to make Bruce angry enough to change. That didn't bode well.

"Thor and Natasha's rooms connect too. I'm about to ask to trade with him."

"What?" I asked.

"No offence but-"

"No, no, no, it's not that," I responded, looking over my shoulder at the door still closed on the opposite side of my room. "Steve is on my other side," I whispered anxiously.

"So you'd prefer me to switch with Thor or…" Clint raised his eyebrows, pretending he didn't care about my distress.

"Seriously, Clint?"

"What's the big deal? You've been living together for weeks."

"I-I just didn't think I'd get lucky by getting him twice. Like I thought they wanted to punish me." He grinned.

"Maybe this is how they're doing it." I tried to laugh at his attempt at a joke but he was totally right. This was incredibly torturous for me. I walked into my room and opened the other door fast, like trying to rip off a band-aid. Steve looked up from unpacking something and instantly smiled when he saw me. I smiled back and walked into his room.

I utterly loved his room. It was so boyish and blue; it was perfect for him. "I was hoping I'd get you," said Steve. I smiled again.

"I totally didn't think they'd have us be around each other more," I responded, still in shock. I ran my fingers through my hair again, feeling happier than I had in days. Having Steve around was such a relief for me. He was a greatly therapeutic friend.

"Especially since I'd been doing such a bad job."

"Shut up," I said playfully. "I wouldn't even have let the others into my house let alone stay there." I felt a pang at remembering that dingy one bedroom house and the perfect Jeep it came with.

"So you're liking your room?"

"Actually, yeah, I am. It's really nice. It's kinda like a permanent residence. You wouldn't even think this is because I broke the law."

"I'm sure they'll find some way to remind you of it."

"Oh, no doubt, considering I have two 'roommates' and everyone else only has one."

"At least it's not Tony. He's starting to really get on my nerves."

"You heard what Fury said. You can have it out with him. I'm sure you'd teach him a lesson." Steve was like twice Tony's size. Hell, even if he put on the suit, Steve could still hold his own for awhile.

"That's reminded me of something. You remember when you said you wanted to learn how to shoot?" I nodded slowly. "I'll teach you. They have places for it down in S.H.I.E.L.D. We'll start tomorrow so don't miss it." I smiled.

"I won't." I was a little in shock that I was actually getting what I wanted but this was a step in the right direction. I couldn't wait.

**Hey ya'll! I'm getting so excited for what's about to come. I have a lot of fight scenes in my head, again pulling from random moments in the trailers. This is gonna be great! Thanks for all the support. Please continue to tell me how you feel. I have so much fun writing this and I'm glad other people support it.**


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter is in third person! Time for an Avengers meeting sans Charlotte. As usual, she is the only thing I own.**

Fury's voice echoed through all of the bedrooms and Charlotte jumped. "You can find me and Agent Coulson in the meeting room. All of the Avengers are to come. Charlotte, just make yourself at home," he said. Charlotte rolled those abnormally large eyes. It was an unusual gesture for someone who looked so innocent and young.

"I guess I'll see you in a few hours, knowing him," she said, directing her comment at Steve. He nodded, nervously. He didn't like the meetings they had when Charlotte wasn't there. There was a lot of lying involved and he knew she was already hostile towards S.H.I.E.L.D.

She strolled back into her room, rubbing her arms. She'd forgotten how cold it was in New York. He watched her roll her eyes again and begin unloading clothes from her suitcase, throwing on the first sweatshirt she could find. Her sundresses and skirts had no place in New York during winter. She kept playing with her hair, it still being newly cut.

Steve walked out into the hallway where he ran into Thor and Bruce. Everyone else had already arrived at the elevator and they crowded in. "I do not like this… thing," observed Thor as he got inside it for the second time that day.

"It's an elevator," responded Tony. "God, how does Charlotte manage to answer mundane questions all day long? 'What's Woodstock?' 'Is this a toaster?'" Clint laughed. Steve absentmindedly looked somewhere else, avoiding confrontation. Natasha put her hand to her temple, wondering how she could survive with such maniacs as teammates. Thor simply looked more confused.

"Hey, at least Charlotte's nice about it," volunteered Bruce. "It might be the reason she's more universally liked than either of you are." Thor mustered a laugh at that. Before Tony could respond, the elevator opened. Parts of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility looked more like an army fortress than a regular office building.

The six of them strode down the metallic looking hallway into the newly renovated conference room. They sat around the long metallic table after being greeted by Coulson and Fury. Thor took a seat beside Steve, Natasha sat between Bruce and Clint, and then Tony was sitting a seat over from Clint. The animosity within the group had been skyrocketing. Thor glanced at Steve. Out of the others, Steve seemed like he was the nicest one and he was strangely close to Charlotte which made Thor want to trust him. He still didn't understand many things on Earth, especially about his co-workers, but he felt like he could trust anything Charlotte told him. She hadn't needed to tell him that she trusted Steve. He'd seen it.

More than anything, Thor felt intensely alone. Not only was he not in his home world, the only people he'd recognized from his time being here before had not travelled with him. He hadn't seen Eric or Darcy and certainly, Jane hadn't been pleased with him coming to New York. She hadn't wanted him to. Charlotte was the only friend he had anymore. Agent Fury didn't count. Charlotte's dislike of him was enough. Thor saw much of himself in Charlotte, therefore he knew how she acted around others shouldn't be taken lightly.

Tony sat, glancing between the other members of the ramshackle "team" he was on. Clint was his only ally within this group and even then, tension with him had been high. Tony deserved to lead the group and he knew it. He had a full proof suit and one that had no defaults, he owned the tech for most of the company. Logically, since he'd been a superhero the longest, he deserved to head the team, didn't he? Clint would battle with him for it, sure, but eventually he would back down. Natasha simply wouldn't care, giving most of her time to plainly killing people. Bruce was no leader, not as the Hulk, and Thor was simply too confused. The only problem he had would be with Captain America.

"Okay, people," said Fury as he took a seat, "we've settled in quite nicely. Barton, Rogers, I hope you're fine with the connecting rooms to Charlotte. None of you will be getting the amount of privacy you actually want but she's liable to do anything. I want you all to understand that. I've said it plenty of times but I just do not think you get it." Coulson sat down, a little dejected. Even he recognized that Charlotte wasn't "liable" to do anything. She'd been weak and taken advantage of. She wasn't the villain here.

"Well, I personally don't get it so could you explain it to me?" asked Clint.

"They're in love with each other, Clint," said Natasha. "She'll help him, she meant that."

"She's not dangerous," said Steve, even as he was staring down at the table. The accusations against Charlotte were never ending and he didn't want to hear about them being "in love" anymore.

"And she won't be as long as you keep your end of the deal," said Fury.

"What are you speaking of?" said Thor. This was his first Avengers only meeting that had even mentioned Charlotte.

"We never debriefed him," said Bruce. "There wasn't the time with him hanging around Charlotte." Thor looked between all of them, again sickened by their lack of explaining things to him.

"We're letting Charlotte think that Loki wants to hurt her still, that his coming to her is meant to be another trick," said Natasha. "In reality, we believe it's a totally different situation." Thor narrowed his blue eyes at her. Loki was capable of inflicting great pain, he knew that firsthand, and Loki had more than taken advantage of Charlotte. What were they talking about?

"I do not understand," he responded. Clint shrugged, obviously mad about the situation.

"He cares for her," Tony supplied. "We're still trying to decipher everything." Thor turned and noticed Steve was still staring at the table, dejected. Charlotte meant more to him than Thor had originally thought. Steve didn't want Loki to care for her.

"You know how we know?" said Clint. "He stabbed her when she broke in with one of _my _arrows. I found it after Steve got it out of her. I had thought it was jagged and I believed them when they said it wasn't but I can tell by the tails on them what kind they are. That one had been jagged but he 'magicked' it away so it would be less pain on her. He stabbed her at the perfect place so that it wouldn't hurt any of her organs." Thor believed him.

"The best part is how fast she healed," said Tony. "In under four days, an injury that should've taken weeks had healed without a hint of a scar. Four days. He did something to that arrow."

"And he kept repeating over and over how hurting her had been for her own good," said Steve, finally talking. "He was trying to make sure she didn't get in trouble with us. He wanted it to look like she had been forced to do it." That had backfired on him, hadn't it? Charlotte was kept chained like she was the murderer. "He shows up all the time when she least expects it. I've seen him even if she hasn't. He watches her all the time." It was hard for Steve to admit but it was entirely too obvious that Loki adored Charlotte, adored her in an abnormal way. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that Charlotte truly hated Loki. She wanted to forgive him. He saw it all the time. She was angry with him but she genuinely wanted an explanation. She was an emotional wreck.

"Why can't she know this?" asked Thor, still taking it in himself. Thor understood Charlotte more clearly in such a short time than he had some of the people in Asgard. She wanted to help Loki, that was her only concern. She wasn't vindictive except when necessary. Maybe she'd be willing to cooperate if she knew what they did.

"Isn't it obvious?" remarked Steve.

"She'd run off with him," said Natasha. "She'd never give us a second look and more than likely, she'd tell him everything he ever wanted to know about this place."

"She wouldn't agree to some enslavement of the human race," said Tony. "That's what he wants and you all know it."

"Maybe she wouldn't tell him everything because for the most part, he already knows," said Coulson. "He can anticipate Thor, Stark, Barton, and Rogers. We're lucky she didn't mention Hulk."

"She didn't actually mention the Avengers either so give her a little credit," said Bruce. Although he didn't know her well, he knew Charlotte was professional if nothing else.

"He's not anticipating particular fight moves. I've got some surprise ones up my sleeve," said Tony.

"Even if she didn't tell him anything," interjected Fury, "she would still leave and we need her."

"What the hell for?" demanded Clint. "Can't she have a say in what goes on in her life? I'm tired of playing secret keeper. God, Steve, why haven't you said anything about it? This is driving me mad."

"It's not my call to make," he responded. Charlotte deserved to know everything, he believed that too but if he opposed what Fury wanted, they might give her to someone else to look after. Even if she would leave and even be angry with him, Steve agreed she had a right to know. He just didn't want to be the one to tell her.

"Oh please," said Clint. "You're happy she's finally taking some interest in you so you won't say anything about this to her!" Steve glared up. Thor looked over at him, believing Clint's harsh words.

"That's enough, Barton! Calm down!" said Fury. "He's following orders. You should learn to take some. Whatever his personal involvement, he's doing the right thing. You may not think so but just comprehend something for a moment, Barton. She wrote the file on you. Not just a paper, not just gathering data, she literally wrote the _file _on you. She knows where everyone's family is, she knows details on everyone in this room that you may not want her to know. She is a liability to us. If she wanted to turn this around on us, she very well could. I suggest you take that seriously. Charlotte Kent is the definition of a loose cannon. The only thing keeping her with us, the very tattered string she's holding onto is that she hates Loki Laufeyson more than she hates any of us. Be thankful we're keeping that intact." Thor looked down. Unfortunately, they were right. The outcome from telling her would be the same even if they'd been honest from the start; Charlotte would leave except that if they told her now, she'd leave hating them.

"She would never reveal personal information on any of us," said Tony. "I can't believe anyone would think that."

"Wake up, Stark. She's already done it. Everything he knows about Earth came from that woman. I don't care if she believed he was a wronged soul or a jealous sibling or whether she believed he was her soulmate. She gave him every tool he has to take this planet, other than his own talents. She's the prime example of most of humanity. She's good, she's loving, and more than anything else, she is weak." Steve sank in his chair, trying not to say anything. Thor glowered at Fury.

"She is far from weak," said Clint.

"Nevertheless, we need her."

"What could you possibly need her for?" asked Natasha. "I thought she was going to prison."

"Loki would break her out," said Coulson. "Besides, we can use her."

"What for?" demanded Steve.

"We're fighting him eventually," said Fury. Steve looked up. There was no way he was actually suggesting that. "She's wonderful leverage. He won't hurt her. Just keep reminding him that she's ours."

"You're not actually suggesting making her fight?" asked Bruce. "There's no way in hell that that's safe, for her, for some of us." Steve didn't miss the look Bruce gave him at that. "That would put every one of us in even more danger."

"Of course not," said Coulson. "She's not an Avenger."

"And like we said, she's a huge risk. We don't know how she'd act out there," said Fury. Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Charlotte could be killed out there. "But I didn't call you here to chat about our resident fugitive. I'm here to tell you that there's been a new development."

"With what?" asked Tony.

"At least two of you are familiar with it and the others have probably heard of it. Professor Eric Selvig recently informed us that something we'd given him to take care of is gone. We had left a cosmic cube in his care so that it wouldn't be in this facility. His lack of memory of the event has shown that he's been under some influence. It's not a surprise to believe that Loki is the one who took it." Thor shifted in his seat. He didn't even need proof; he knew Loki had taken it. Steve as well, showed recognition. "This is worse than anticipated because it means that Loki is in the city." Steve froze. Charlotte had seen him, that's why she'd been so odd when they got off the plane. When he turned and saw the look on Thor's face, he realized Thor had seen him too. Neither of them had said anything. Why?

"He's had the resources from Selvig to figure out where the facility is," said Coulson. "And unfortunately, that means to a certain extent that he knows where you're staying."

"We're only saying to be on the lookout. It's possible he doesn't care about where you're staying. Charlotte had a great insight that he needs help. He cannot do this alone. That may be his only true concern." They all nodded. Natasha was put out with Loki already. He was incredibly unpredictable but then again, so was she. "You can go but I'm serious about training. Get it together. Start working as a team. All of this will come to heads soon." Tony rolled his eyes and got up, already sick of the bullshit teamwork he was supposed to deal with.

They all got up and dispersed. Natasha and Bruce went to another part of the facility, no doubt to start some sort of training. Tony was almost falling asleep standing up on the elevator and Clint's mind was elsewhere. He was still boiling over the issues with Charlotte. Thor and Steve stood behind the two of them on the elevator. Clint rolled his eyes as the floors kept ticking by.

Thor stood awkwardly, still trying to comprehend everything they'd told him to keep from Charlotte. Steve glanced over at Thor. Maybe he'd been trying to protect Charlotte by not mentioning that the two of them had seen Loki. Maybe she'd told him not to say anything. She was sick of being caged up and none of the Avengers blamed her.

"I want her to know," said Thor, side glancing at Steve.

"You're preaching to the choir," said Clint, leaning against the wall. Thor added that phrase to an ever growing list of Midgardian things he needed to ask someone about. It always seemed like if he ever asked for answers, it put them out or just plain annoyed them.

"Thor, don't be stupid," said Tony, groggy from jetlag. "They're right. Telling her means that she'll leave and that she'll hate us even more." It was one of the only things Tony had ever said to Thor that hadn't been demeaning and he took that seriously.

"Why did it take so long to tell me?" Thor demanded. Thor immediately thought of how much he likened Charlotte to himself. They hadn't told him for the same reason they hadn't told her; because he could be sympathetic to Loki.

"I'm sure you can figure that out," said Clint, almost disgusted. None of them were stupid. Thor was Loki's brother. That didn't go away no matter what a person did. They had to handle him with gloves.

None of them said anything else until they were finally back in their penthouse. Tony immediately walked to his room to sleep. Steve and Clint went to their rooms. Charlotte had done as she'd been told, leaving both doors open. Steve glanced in her room. She was sleeping face down, still wearing a sweatshirt. He looked across the room and saw Clint leaning against his doorframe. He grinned at Steve and shook his head. It only got better every day.


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks so much for the feedback on the last chapter. I had a lot of fun getting into other characters' heads, particularly Thor's. I'm glad ya'll enjoyed it. I hope to do another third person chapter soon. As usual, I own nothing except Charlotte and this is her POV.**

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone going off. I knew it was my cell phone because it was going off in my room but its ringtone wasn't the same happy-go-lucky, boring ringtone every iPhone is preset with. "I'm gonna kill you, Tony!" I screeched, as I reached down on the floor, dragging that huge purse over to me. The ringtone was Judas, the lovely song that Tony said fit my love life. I dug through my purse, groggy, and pulled it out, answering it without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?" I said, rolling onto my back, pushing my hair out of my face. I'd cut my bangs too short and now they were incessantly annoying me.

"Charlotte? It's Jane." My eyes widened.

"Hey, uh, how are you?" I asked.

"Who is it?" I heard Clint demand. I jumped when I saw him standing in his doorframe. That had been fast.

"It's Jane," I whispered, covering the phone.

"What was that?" Jane asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's one of my prison guards trying to monitor our call," I responded. She laughed a bit.

"Sometimes, I swear, you remind me of Darcy."

"I've been thinking about asking her for a taser. But is everything okay?"

"I just wanted to check up on Thor."

"You want me to give him the phone?" My heart fell at the idea. He might crush my little iPhone by accident.

"Since you sound so tired, I guess so."

"Can you go get Thor?" I asked Clint, again, covering the phone.

"There wouldn't be this problem if you'd let me switch rooms with him," Clint responded, moving to walk into the hallway through my room.

"Do it, I don't care. But none of us wanna hear you getting it on with 'Tasha.'" Clint stuck his tongue out playfully then left. "Sorry if you heard any of that," I directed at Jane.

"Oh no, it's totally fine. Did your flight go okay?"

"Well, since I had sleeping pills, it was fine. Other than that, I was locked to my seat so I can't really judge how comfortable Tony's private jet is."

"Are they still doing that?" I nodded as if she could see it.

"Not since we've moved in, no, but how are you? Did S.H.I.E.L.D. offer to let you work over here?" I knew the answer before she'd responded.

"No but I expected that. I'm fine where I am; I'm just concerned about Thor adjusting is all." I heard the expectancy in her voice.

"I'm guessing you called me for a reason other than to get to Thor."

"If it's not too much trouble-" I broke her off before she commenced into what was probably a well-rehearsed speech.

"It's fine. I'll make sure he does alright, can tie a tie and all that." I could tell she was glad I accepted. Maybe I'd missed my calling as a psychologist or hell, an elementary school teacher.

"Darcy said you'd say yes since you were so good at this stuff and I think Thor will really appreciate it. He told me before all of you left that he saw a lot of himself in you. He will really appreciate having a teammate that's not going to be rude to him." Oh, so he'd mentioned Tony and Clint's comments to her.

"I'm not on the team but yeah, I'd be glad to do it. It's not like they let me do work anymore." I lowered my voice. "Besides, he's been the only one to even listen to me about Loki."

"I would've been there for you if they hadn't dropped me automatically after they found Thor. They're doing to you what they did to me except it's worse. You've been at S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, the best researcher they've ever had, and you make one mistake. Now they're ready to throw you in jail."

"In their defense, I did break a few laws and lie to them for months." Then I heard someone in the threshold of my bedroom. I turned in bed and saw Thor, who was already dressed for the day. "He's here." I held out the phone to Thor, who walked to my bed and slowly took it. "Be careful with that," I whispered, then I rolled over to give him the room to sit down.

I buried my head into the pillow on the cold side of my bed. It was probably a lot later than I thought it was. I was half asleep again when I felt Thor's hand on my back. "It'll hang up itself. Just put it in that sack on the floor. Yep, that one," I responded as he held up my purse. I noticed Thor was still sitting on my bed after awhile so I propped myself up on my left arm. "How was the meeting last night? Do you like the facility?" I yawned.

"It was fine. Indeed, I like it." I nodded.

"Of course, you're sworn to tell me nothing." He opened his mouth but I shook my head. "It's cool. I can probably guess what it was about anyway. Hey, relax," I told him, noticing how rigid he had been since being on the phone with Jane. "Lay down if you want. I don't care." I moved over farther. "We do it on Midgard a lot so it's perfectly normal. I'm sensing that you're needing a heart-to-heart." He sat so that his back was against the headboard, uncomfortable with fully laying down. I laid on my stomach, resting my chin on my hands. "You miss her?" I asked. He only nodded.

"It is not only that. I do not feel accepted here."

"I'll help you with that," I responded, moving to prop myself up again. "All you need is a little help. They'll warm up to you." He shook his head. "Come on, it's not gonna be that bad, especially once they see what you can do with Mjolnir." I paused when I saw the look he'd given me. He knew he hadn't told me the name.

"Did he-" I nodded, cutting him off. Loki had told me a string of things about Thor, even mentioning Sif and the Warriors Three. But I didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D. to know I knew things about Asgard. They probably had cameras in here. "I wish to speak to you about him."

"It can't be here. They'll know. But I'd be more than happy to talk to you about him. It would be really therapeutic for me since no one else wants to talk about it or how I feel about it."

"You are still hurt." It wasn't a question, just an observation. I nodded.

"It's getting better but my more pressing concern is with you and the other Avengers. Speaking of…" I trailed off when I turned to see my clock. The numbers were saying that it was past 11am. "Shit," I said. I got out of bed fast, looking into Steve's room and noticing he was gone. I started taking off my sweatshirt and searching through my room for something appropriate to wear.

"What is your urgency?" asked Thor.

"I'm getting taught how to shoot a gun today and I'm afraid I may be late. Steve's teaching me. But I'm serious about helping you." I crazily went through my drawers until I found a sports bra. Thank goodness. Who knows? It was possible I'd do more than shooting. "Tonight, let's go out in the city and we're getting you a cell phone. We should probably get you some more clothes too. Wait, have you ever had McDonalds?" He shook his head and I got more excited. I hadn't gotten to do stuff like this in awhile. "Oh and by the way, if any one of them is being mean to you, I'll… I'll- I don't know." I realized that I actually had no leverage against them. Thor laughed.

"It is fine. They will realize their mistake soon enough." I grinned and walked out of my room down the hall into the bathroom. I grimaced. In one night this whole place had turned into a bachelor pad. I quickly changed and brushed my teeth, trying to pin my bangs back after I got into a band t-shirt. Oh, music, I couldn't wait to show Thor all of the music he didn't know about yet. The best part of doing this with Thor was that he already had a basic knowledge from Jane. I just had to embellish and help him get into the team. On top of that, I was getting free therapy from my ex's brother. You couldn't make this stuff up.

I busted down the stairs and stood with Natasha and Thor to go down on the elevator. I was pumped. None of the Avengers had stayed in today. Although that didn't bode well since I really wanted to be alone when I first fired a gun. Tony and Clint being around would distract me too much and then they'd make fun of me for it. Hell, I probably wasn't even supposed to be doing this. "Ya'll have any tips for me on firing a gun?" I asked.

"If you want to make sure you hit your target straight on, pretend someone's actually standing there," said Natasha. "Sometimes, I envision Clint." I laughed a little since she was making a joke for once.

"I say to have fun with it," said Thor who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. I nodded at him. Thor was one of those guys who would laugh in the middle of fighting. I was probably going to run away if I ever had to be in one.

"It's gonna be fun pretending to shoot anything," I responded.

"Pretending?" said Natasha. "You'll be shooting rounds." I gulped. I had assumed that I would but now it was really confirmed that I could actually kill someone. What if I did something and accidentally shot Clint? "It'll be fine. I'd be more than happy to teach you some tricks with it. I recommended the guns you'll be using."

"So S.H.I.E.L.D. is totally fine with this?" I asked, actually intensely flattered that Natasha approved of me training. I was actually more flattered that she'd recommended the handguns I get.

"To a certain extent," she responded. "I'd be careful about showing off in front of Coulson or Fury though. I think they doubt you'll be any good. I recommended the handguns because we're pretty alike in size. You deserve to have some self defense. Loki is a pretty unpredictable character." That was the most that I'd ever heard Natasha say and I took it all in slowly. She was saying I might actually have to use a gun in like, a fight? With them? Phil and Fury wanted me to be good or they didn't? I was confused but the elevator had stopped and it was time for me to find the shooting place. Natasha took me there after Thor went to talk to Fury about something.

I breathed out slowly when I caught a glimpse of Clint standing with Steve. It looked like how I pictured a shooting range to look in an actual gun shop. "Just relax," I heard Natasha say from behind me.

"_You _are giving me advice to relax?"

"I'm just saying that it'll be easier if you're not nervous." I nodded. Natasha and I were really getting on lately. I wish I knew why. Hell, she probably didn't even know. Maybe now I was like her pet project with handguns and short red hair. Maybe I'd get a codename like Brown Recluse or something. I snorted out loud when I thought of that idea.

"Clint, what are you doing here?" I asked as I walked towards them.

"I'm a sniper, sweetheart. Don't you remember?" he responded saucily.

"Stop trying to make Natasha jealous," I said at his choice of nickname. I heard her make a noise in response when she left. "I was kinda under the impression that this was gonna be _private_," I directed at Steve. He shrugged which was strange to see.

"Well, I can leave you two alone if that's what you want," said Clint. I almost swore I saw a blush creeping into Steve's face.

"Clint, I'm about to learn how to shoot a gun. You best be careful with your words today," I responded.

"Oh, like your silver tongued god of mischief?"

"That does it!" I moved to playfully hit him when I felt someone hold me back. It was Tony Stark. "Oh, you're not here too?" I asked as he let me go.

"I was on my way to work on my suit in the next shooting range. Fire it up some," he responded. I rolled my eyes as he pretended to limber up for it. "You ladies have a nice time." He walked through to the next range and I crossed my arms.

"Does he piss off anyone else but me?" I asked.

"You're not alone in that," said Steve. Clint nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm so late getting down here. Jetlag, I suppose, and then Jane called for Thor."

"Seriously-" Clint began.

"Yes, please switch rooms with him, Clint. It's actually gonna make things a lot easier on me since I'm giving him lessons on 21st Century America. Although, I would guess they gave you that particular room for a reason." Probably because Clint was one of the few agents with his head on straight and a clear mind. If he was really there for protection purposes and surveillance of me, then he couldn't possibly switch rooms with Thor. Thor didn't know those guidelines.

"You're giving him lessons?" asked Steve. I nodded.

"Jane pretty much asked me to make sure he knows what's going on and that he fits in with ya'll. Speaking of which, Clint, would you and Tony stop being assholes to whoever you want?"

"Not possible," I heard Tony call. He was apparently still eavesdropping on our conversation.

"I'll get to you later!" I called back. "Look, whatever, he just doesn't have any friends here. I don't wanna beg but would you please be nice to him?" I didn't even need Steve to nod because I knew he'd listen to me. Clint just shrugged. "You and Tony are intimidated by him. I get it. But you're both adults and you both have skills that he doesn't. Get it together." I wasn't going to get through to Clint and Tony just yet but I was glad I'd said something. "Now, Natasha told me that she picked out the guns I get to use." I rubbed my hands together greedily when I saw them laid out on a table against the wall.

"Honestly, I think she'd be better help to you than Clint and I will be," said Steve.

"She'd definitely be better help than Clint," I replied with a smile for Clint. He rolled his eyes.

"She picked out the handguns she uses," said Clint. "They're light and well suited for a woman. She figured that you'll be the same with them as she is."

"Wow, that's some compliment," I said.

"Especially coming from her. But remember, she has other gadgets too. Guns aren't her top priority. So I want you to try the smaller ones first." I nodded at Clint and he handed one towards me. I took the handle nervously and gripped it in my right hand. This was an actual weapon, not a water gun.

"I'm really anxious about this, ya'll," I said, giving them fair warning.

"That's what we're here for. Now are you right handed or left handed? I can't remember."

"Right," Steve and I said at the same time. I cracked a smile at it.

"Before he loads it, make sure you can aim it properly," said Steve. I nodded again and moved toward the half-wall that was there for proper distancing from the target. I jolted when I heard something boom in the room over.

"Sorry," yelled Tony. I held the handgun out, pointing it at the target.

"You can hold it with two hands if you're nervous," said Steve. I automatically did that. Clint came and steadied my arm.

"I haven't even put in the magazine yet," he said down to me. "You're not gonna hurt us. Now make a better stance." I gulped and nodded, keeping the gun pointed at the target, my arms outstretched.

"For your first try, that's not bad. I'll help you do that better," said Steve, tossing Clint the magazine.

"Here, I've got an idea," said Clint. I brought the gun closer to me and Clint put the ammo in my hand. "Load it in." I glanced between the two of them and I saw that Steve wasn't saying anything. He thought it was a good idea that I do it. "Okay, it's detachable."

"Okay, I got it," I said, turning the gun in my hand and forcing the magazine into the open compartment within the handle. I heard it click.

"That's the easiest part," said Clint.

"Now push down the hammer," said Steve. "That little part there," he said pointing at a small button looking thing at the top of the handle. I pushed it down and I heard it click again. "Now pull this back." He touched the top part of the gun and I knew he meant to slide it. I pointed the gun at the floor and put all of my strength into pulling it back. "It'll take a couple of tries."

"Yeah, you're new," said Clint. They were being encouraging when I didn't automatically get it. I did it a couple more times until I heard another sound. "It's cocked and ready to go," said Clint, stepping back.

"That's it? I'm just going to blindly fire?" I asked.

"No, I'll help you first," said Steve and he moved to stand behind me to fix my stance better. "Do it with two hands if that makes you less nervous." I tried breathing slower. I was nervous enough without him standing that close to me. I held the gun out in front of me like I had before. "Make your arms straighter. That'll help you." He hesitantly pressed my elbows up to make them straighter. "You're shaking pretty badly." I nodded.

"I told you, I'm really anxious."

"It's fine. Um, I'll guide you for the first shot then." What was that supposed to entail? It made me nervous just thinking about it. He then put his hands over mine, still standing behind me, although now he was incredibly close. "Get ready to pull the trigger." I nodded again, putting my finger through the loop. I was silently grateful that he was over a head taller than me. That kept it from being awkward. "I'll keep you steady," he said, moving his left hand to grip my left wrist. I spoke too soon. He had bent closer to me and I could feel him talking to me. Gosh, he smelled good. How had I never noticed before?

"What next?" I said, more nervous than I had been five minutes ago.

"Aim," he said and his voice made me lose it. I'd pulled the trigger by accident and it shot without hitting the target. I jerked away from Steve fast.

"Oh, I am so sorry. You made me nervous. I'm so sorry," I said, breaking a sweat. Clint stifled a laugh and I kept my eyes on the floor. I handed the gun to Steve, almost like I was ashamed to be holding it. "Why don't I watch you do it? You know, mimic you? Because that's just… that's just…" Way too much for me and my heartbeat?

He nodded slowly and I could tell he was as embarrassed about it as I was. "Clint, do you have a similar gun to this?" he asked. Clint ran and gave me one just like it. He shook his head at me and smiled.

I went about cocking it the way they'd told me earlier. I went to stand beside Steve, focused on my own target while he focused on his. The targets had people on them; highlighting perfect places to shoot that would seriously injure or kill someone. I brought my arm out in front, being Steve's shadow as he did it. I leveled my eyes at the target's head as I saw Steve doing. Then I heard a bang as Steve fired his hand gun. I copied him. We did a full round of me mimicking Steve and then the targets were brought toward us across a belt until they were right in front of the wall. I'd gotten one in the poor guy's stomach, his arm, and had narrowly grazed his ear. I glanced over at Steve's and noticed that he had shot the same places three times each; the heart and the head. I had literally no clue how he'd done it since we'd switched movements for nearly every shot.

"Not bad, Charlotte," said Clint. "On your first try, you got the guy's stomach. That would severely set someone back. Do it again but with another gun. I think you mimicking him is a good idea."

I continued doing it for awhile until Tony walked by. My progress had gotten steadily better, except on the bigger handguns. I'd been able to hit the head but not where the target was placed in the center. "How's it going? Is Charlotte a gunslinger yet?" asked Tony. I fired off a shot, this time swinging the gun out from behind him, as if I'd had in a back pocket. I really only followed Steve's lead.

"Not yet," replied Clint. "But she is becoming great at being Steve's twin."

"Just what we need," said Tony sarcastically. "Charlotte, come here. I've got a tip for you." I rolled my eyes and walked over, still jumpy from the gunfire. He moved back further from the two of them. "This may not be full proof but I'm telling you, this way you will always kill them. Now, you can't kill Loki but you sure could try." He lowered his voice. "I doubt Captain America wants you to use this advice. Hell, most people will tell you it's a bad idea."

"Then I'm sure it is one," I said but I didn't move, deciding to humor him.

"Get angry." I raised my eyebrows. "I'm serious. Nine times out of ten, you're shooting because you're angry anyway. That's the entire reason you wanted a gun. My advice is to start thinking of everything that has been pissing you off (and I'm sure there's a lot of it) then pick up the glock and fire. You might not hit the same spot twice but who cares? You will have shot them if you're angry." I nodded. I could get angry all right.

"I can't shoot a glock!" I exclaimed.

"Right now you can't." With that, Tony patted me on the arm and backed off to stand with Clint. I walked over to the table and Steve handed me another gun.

"I wanna try on my own before we go up." He nodded. I cocked the gun.

"What advice did you give her, Tony?" asked Clint.

"You'll see." I walked up to the wall, focusing my eyes at one target's heart. "Say 'em out loud!" Tony was encouraging me and I nodded.

I raised the gun, keeping my arms straight like Steve had told me to do. Then I dropped one of them. I could do this one handed. Everyone else did. "Handcuffs," I said, firing a shot. Without moving, I shot again. "Fury." Fury had hit the midriff, grazing the heart. "House arrest." I fired again. Then I raised the gun to aim at the head, saving my last three bullets for my favorite part. "Loki." I fired off all three in a series. I hit the button to bring the target forward. I breathed out when I saw that I'd shot the head twice. Once had been a bull's-eye. "Hell yeah."

"What the hell was that?" asked Clint.

"He made her get angry," said Steve.

"Hey, it gets results," said Tony. "She'd have killed this guy. Who cares if it was a lucky shot? Getting lucky is about all we have to go on."

"Thanks, ya'll," I said. All three of them had actually helped me. Clint and Steve had really made me feel comfortable with the guns and Tony had pushed me. "I'm pretty shocked I even hit the target at all today. But can we continue this tomorrow? I promised Thor I'd take him out tonight."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Clint.

"We're going shopping and we're probably gonna eat. He'll keep with me. It's cool."

"Can I go with you? I'm already sick of being cooped up in here." I shrugged. I didn't especially want him to since I was planning on having a heart-to-heart with Thor.

"Actually, it's probably a good idea if we all go out later," said Tony.

"Why?" asked Steve.

Tony openly shrugged his shoulders. "Jarvis is getting installed tonight and if we're gone, it'll give my tech room to be everywhere in the house."

"Hell no. Hell no," I said. "Jarvis is not gonna be built in to the penthouse. Are you serious? As if we got any privacy already."

"Hey, just think about who's money went into making that penthouse, alright? I'm mad they didn't automatically install Jarvis."

"Forget it, let's all go out tonight," I said, running my fingers through my hair. "I'm gonna go take a shower." Steve, Tony, and Thor rode up the elevator with me. "I hope you're cool with everyone coming out tonight with us," I said to Thor.

"It does not bother me," he responded. I didn't expect that it would. I just didn't want him to be shocked when Tony and Clint were in the dressing rooms with him. I breezed past them and up into my room where I grabbed some clothes to change into and grabbed the bathroom. I shut the door and was already in the shower by the time I'd realized that I'd forgotten my own body wash and shampoo. I was already grossed out by the amount of man-things in the bathroom itself. One night and all of this had already happened.

I groaned when the water suddenly got freezing and I wanted to yell at Tony. It had to be his fault, I figured as the water went back to being warm. I gauged which of the manly shampoos smelled the best (and it was surprisingly hard to choose). Then I got out of the shower and grabbed my towel. As I was drying off, I noticed that the towel appeared to be the only thing I'd brought in. I paused for a second, knowing I'd brought in my own clothes.

I wrapped the towel around my body before I burst out of the bathroom and started walking down the stairwell. If Tony wanted me to get mad, then he had achieved that. I leaned over the railing, my hair dripping wet. "Wow, is it my birthday?" asked Tony. I finished walking down the stairs.

"Don't you wish?" I responded, noticing Steve and Bruce were sitting on the couches in the living room area that I'd walked down into, trying to look elsewhere. Thor was just staring, flabbergasted. "Give me my clothes back." I extended one hand and he only raised his eyebrows. I heard someone behind me and just knew it was Clint.

"Hellooooo, Charlotte," he said, trying to make both words sound like a come on.

"Seriously," I said, "that's one of my favorite shirts. Give me my stuff back."

"I don't have them," said Tony. "I'd own up to it if I did." I turned and looked at Clint. He playfully raised his hands like I'd placed him under arrest.

"I literally just got off the elevator. It sure as hell wasn't me," he responded.

"Although," said Tony, "I'd like to know what slick, clever bastard was able to come in that bathroom without you noticing." I almost dropped the towel in shock.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I screeched, turning and running up the stairs into my room. I dropped to my knees in front of my dresser and ripped open the drawers. My dresses were still there and so were some of my pants but all of my coats were gone. But everything else had been replaced with men's clothing. Henleys, thermals, button downs and of course, they weren't just any men's clothing. I knew most of these items. I'd thrown them in the trash the night after Loki stabbed me. I started laughing. I had to give him props for being so conniving. I picked up one of the thermals and a pair of pants. He'd won this round.


	24. Chapter 24

I waltzed down the hall, holding some jeans and a dark green thermal shirt. I got dressed quickly and then went back downstairs where all of the Avengers were still confused as to what was going on. I took the glass of scotch that Tony had been holding and knocked it back. Thankfully, there wasn't much in there. "Is that a man's shirt?" asked Clint.

"And you know, you kinda smell like a guy too," said Tony, grabbing his glass back, obviously irritated that it was empty. I tilted my head back in frustration. Was it that obvious that I'd showered in men's body wash and shampoo?

"I can explain both of those things. First of all, I forgot my stuff when I took my shower so I had to pick something that was already in there," I responded, pretty much talking to everyone.

"Yeah, I can smell it too," said Clint. "You smell like Bruce." I saw Bruce's expression change into confusion; probably that Clint had any clue what he smelled like.

"Then Bruce, whatever this is, you need to keep using it. It smells fantastic," I said.

"Thanks," he responded.

"Secondly," I started, "why doesn't someone go on and call Director Fury because we've had a break-in. This man's shirt I'm wearing is one of many that happen to be in my drawers right now."

"I don't think I fully understand," said Bruce. I shrugged.

"I wish I didn't understand. These clothes belonged to Loki. I bought most of them for him." As I saw most of their expressions change at the realization that he'd been in the penthouse, I carried on. "He also stole my coats, my hoodies, actually my leggings, and anything that would possibly keep me warm so I literally have to wear this." Thor tried to hold back a laugh, clearly thinking it was as funny as I thought. Natasha looked pissed, as did Tony and Clint. Steve just looked honestly confused. "So whenever ya'll are ready to go shopping, I'm totally in."

"You're not as upset about this as you usually are," observed Steve. I shrugged.

"If he's gonna keep doing stuff like this, I might as well play along. It just pisses me off that he took some of my favorite clothes."

"Maybe waiting to tell this to the higher-ups is a good idea," said Tony.

"Whatever you say, as long as I don't get in trouble for it."

"I'll take total blame, sweetheart. Now let's take one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles and hit it. My team will be here any minute. Hopefully, Jarvis will help with the eminent security problems."

"Getting filmed isn't gonna stop him. Honestly, he'll probably enjoy it."

"Why don't alarms go off when things like this happen?" asked Natasha. "That's some security perimeter we've got."

"I plan on taking care of some of that," said Tony, "here and at my city office."

"Fine, it's settled. Let's just get out of here," said Clint. "I'm sick of all this crap with Loki." We all began our walk to the elevator after I got that huge purse of mine. Tony and Clint had now begun making fun of it, saying it was like Hermione's purse in Harry Potter. It had to have everything I'd ever need in it.

"Well, I'm driving," I declared.

"Oh, no way."

"Come on. I'm supposed to be showing Thor around. How can I do that if I'm not in charge of where we go? I'm not taking him into Burberry or something. I'm on a limited budget here. Besides, don't you think I deserve a new coat? When was the last time your ex broke into your room and stole your clothes in the middle of winter, Clint?"

"I guess you do deserve some kind of prize."

"I put up with a lot," I said, hitting the down button on the elevator.

"You sound like she's a terrible driver," said Bruce. "I'm sure-"

"Nope," said Tony, cutting him off. "She's a woman. Of course, she can't drive."

"You want to elaborate on what a woman can't do?" said Natasha. Tony visibly flinched. Natasha made him nervous.

"On second thought, maybe she's fantastic."

"No, she's not," said Clint, laughing. "That Jeep was practically on two wheels the first time she parked it out in New Mexico."

"Oh yeah, and then you almost ran me over at the grocery store that one day," said Tony.

"Well, that wasn't an accident," I responded. "I am a bad driver but no one ever complains."

"I'm sure Steve was just being polite," said Clint. I laughed because I knew that was true. The one time I'd driven with Steve, on the way to the airport in New Mexico, he'd had a hard grip on the handle of his door.

Once we picked one of the ambiguous S.H.I.E.L.D. vans that everyone could fit in, I grabbed the keys and got in the driver's seat. Thor got in beside me. He smiled over at me, like he was ready to experience my driving again. "You better buckle up," I told him. He did as I asked and I turned the van on, immediately setting all of the vents to focus on me. As I blasted the heat, I drove out onto the street. I'd forgotten how much I hated driving in New York. It was a rare thing when I'd done it before recruiting Thor. "So let's find a store that has both men and women's clothes. We can kill two birds with one stone."

"What does that mean?" asked Thor.

"Um, the analogy? Well, obviously, you can imagine killing two birds with one stone, right? It kinda means in one shot you can get multiple things done, like since we're going to a men's and women's store, we'll be able to get clothes for both me and you instead of going two different places." He smiled and nodded, already happier for knowing something.

"Charlotte, keep your eyes on the road! Dear God!" said Tony, acting like I was about to wreck.

"Shut up, Stark, or I'm kicking you out!" They all went back to talking to one another. I noticed that Steve was conversing with Bruce. Thor was still grinning. "Is Jane a better driver than me?" I asked him.

"Indeed not. She hit me with her vehicle," he responded. I laughed at the mental image it gave me. I'd forgotten she told me that she had done that. "Did your… driving make Loki nervous?" He'd stumbled over the words and upon hearing them, the side conversations dissipated, as though they were expectant of my answer. None of them knew much about what had happened in the "home life" aspect of Loki and I's relationship.

I was embarrassed by how quiet everyone was now but I answered anyway. "At first, yes, but I doubt it was my driving that was making him nervous. But actually he never complained. I suppose since he'd never been in a car with anyone else, he thought I was good at it. I warned him though." All in all, that hadn't been too long ago that Loki had been the one in the passenger's seat and we were going out. It felt weird for me to think about him.

"Did you teach him how to do it?" asked Thor, eagerly. I shook my head.

"I never trusted anyone else to drive that Jeep. I never wanted anyone else to, let me put it that way. There are far more adept drivers than me." I glanced in the rearview mirror at Steve who was looking towards the front of the car like the others. "Then again, he never asked. He liked cars, I know that much. Car commercials on TV thrilled him." I rolled my eyes at the thought of how much he had loved car commercials, specifically ones where the drivers were being reckless. I suppose they reminded him of me.

"Would you teach _me _how to do it?" I smiled at him and nodded.

"You may want a different teacher but I'm sure someone would."

"No. I wish for you to teach me." I was startled by it but I nodded again anyway. If he wanted me to, then of course, I would.

"You're making a bad decision there, Thor," said Tony. I parked in a garage and everyone got out while we walked to the store.

"I'll help you first, is that cool?" I asked Thor. He nodded sheepishly, almost like he was some sort of puppy. "Ya'll can do whatever the hell you want," I said to everyone else, rubbing my arms. Damn, it was cold.

"I think Thor needs manly advice on clothing, personally," said Tony. Clint nodded from behind him.

"I was planning on staying with the two of you anyway," said Steve. I saw the look on his face and it gave away the plan of everyone else. They were under orders to not leave us alone. Jarvis was just a clever cover. They thought Thor and I would go out and jump ship.

"Oh, right, you're my babysitter," I said, playing it like I hadn't caught on. It wouldn't bother me for them to be around but I'd really wanted to be one on one with Thor. I figured that would be the most help to the both of us since he was clearly curious about Loki's time with me. If I didn't think the Avengers got mad or got hurt by my being with Loki, I would've had no problem talking about missing him in front of them. As it was, Tony hated Loki on principal of being magical. Tony never trusted anything like that. Clint hated him because he had been a threat to me and to the company. Natasha just didn't like him because he was wild. I wasn't sure of Bruce's opinions of him but I knew they weren't positive. And Steve, I kept having the sneaking suspicion that Steve was jealous of him. It wasn't in my cards to hurt Steve anyway. I'd stepped around the subject unless it absolutely couldn't be avoided simply for his sake. In the end, maybe that had helped me too, to be able to not think about it. But Thor was curious and had every right to be.

I followed the six of them into the store and automatically grabbed a coat, throwing it on. I then helped Thor pick out a few shirts and pants. "Your arms are quite possibly going to bust the seams out of these shirts," I said, standing on my tiptoes while holding one up to him. "Gosh, you're massively muscular. Maybe Steve should've taken you out. Hey Steve, what size are you?" I called, turning around. The tag from the coat was itching me but I had been walking around the store in it. Besides, it really was warm.

"You've got it," he responded, looking at the shirt I'd picked out for Thor.

"I was just worried about his muscles and everything but your shirts fit you fine so this will be good." Yeah, his shirts were so tight that I was usually worried that one of the buttons was going to pop off or that those well-fitting t-shirts he wore were going to rip down the center. Somehow, they always managed to stay together so I was less worried for Thor. "Okay, these are dressing rooms," I said. "Steve, could you show him back there?" Steve nodded. I was trying intensely hard to make the two of them become friends. Steve walked back after he'd shown Thor a room and everything. "Come out and show me what they look like!" I called.

"Of course!" he called back. I stood beside Steve.

"Bless his heart, he is so confused," I said. Steve laughed a little.

"At least he already knows a little something," he responded. I nodded. That was very true.

"I know I've already said it but would you keep being kind to him? Jane says he thinks I'm his only friend." I shifted in the unpaid-for jacket. "I think ya'll would get along with the whole man-out-of-time thing."

"I'll definitely be nice to him." He sounded nervous about it.

"Yeah, you're nice to everybody. I don't know why I bothered asking."

"He's really fond of you, you know?" I smiled because not much made me feel better than hearing something like that.

"I'm fond of him too. I'm really fond of you both," I said and before Steve could respond, Thor had walked out of the dressing room. "It certainly fits," I said as he walked towards us. The shirt was tight on him, as I had predicted. I almost reached out and touched his chest because it was so unbelievable. That only served to make me think of the first time I'd seen Steve. I'd been in awe that bodies like that could ever be real.

"Did you do this with Loki?" Thor asked as I walked around him, inspecting the clothes. Dressing men was actually really fun for me.

"I did," I responded. "But he made me go back in the dressing rooms with him. He was obsessed with making sure he didn't look like an idiot. He wouldn't even step out of the room unless I pre-approved it." Thor laughed.

"He can certainly be that way."

"I bought him clothes the first day I met him and I brought them home for him to try on because God knows, he couldn't go shopping when he was wearing that cape and that outfit. But he had no clue how to button things and he didn't understand zippers. It was pretty adorab- Oh, are these the pants Clint picked out? They're great." I tried to stop myself from saying the word "adorable" even though that's exactly what it had been. Neither of the two of them needed to hear that. Thor half grinned at me.

"I have others to put on for you both." Then Thor waltzed down the hall and back into the dressing room. My face was flushed from letting something like that practically slip out. I played with the zipper on the store's coat.

After we'd helped Thor, the three of us commenced into shopping for me. I got a leather bomber jacket, which was so warm that I wanted to cry, and a pair of brown combat boots. Then I also bought a few extra girly things. As I was checking out, buying Thor's things as well as my own, Tony came up to me. "A leather bomber jacket and combat boots? You're taking mimicking Steve to an extreme," he said.

I chuckled. "I can't buy something because I like it? Hey, maybe it'll help me get into the spirit of shooting people!" He rolled his eyes as the seven of us walked down to one of Clint's favorite places to eat. Thor paused before following the others in so I hung back. Luckily, the place was a diner and was more than likely, going to be cheap. "What's your deal? I thought you'd eaten at a diner before." Jane had mentioned how Thor had heatedly broken a coffee mug when he'd decided he liked the stuff. "Is it them? I honestly thought they'd been improving a little with the insults." No thanks to me, of course. "Come on! It's gonna be my treat!" I exclaimed as I saw that he was mostly taking in the scenery of the city. I wondered what Loki's reactions to it had been. I wish that was something I'd been able to experience with him because New York was decidedly more his style.

"You do not have to…" He struggled to find the right words.

"Pay for you?" He nodded. "Oh, it's fine. S.H.I.E.L.D. pays for most of the outings, I would think, so I'll get reimbursed. Just let me treat you! It's your first time in New York so it'll be great." He nodded again skeptically as though I was walking into something sketchy.

When we squeezed in with the others in a large booth (which was ridiculous considering the size of our group), we got to immediately order. I got an order of pancakes and most of the others followed suit. Thor had needed extra time to look over the menu, trying to remember what he'd eaten at a diner before, I assumed. Then he commenced into rattling off most of the meals he'd read. The _meals. _I coughed in the middle of the list of at least five separate meals. "And that's all for you, honey?" asked the waitress. Thor smiled that puppy dog smile and nodded at her. She was immediately charmed and walked away with the order card for our table.

I would've slouched on the table with my head in my hands if I hadn't been so squished between Steve and Thor. "I'm guessing _that's _why you didn't want me to pay for you," I said. I mentally screamed at Jane for not warning me that Thor could eat an entire house. Loki hadn't been that way at all but then again, the differences between Loki and Thor were like night and day.

"Can you seriously eat all that?" asked Clint in practical shock. Thor only nodded. Clint clearly approved. Tony wiggled between Bruce and Clint. Natasha was trying to keep as close to the edge as possible. Thor clearly didn't understand that because he was practically in my lap and I was practically in Steve's.

"You look like you're having fun, Tony," I said, smiling over at him. I enjoyed seeing the rare times that Tony was uncomfortable.

"So do you," he responded, winking at me.

"Yeah, I'm in the middle of a blonde man sandwich. I really can't complain." I glanced at Steve who seemed to be trying to give me some space while at the same time totally frozen. Thor, as usual, simply didn't understand personal space.

I made Thor get up though, so that I could go to the bathroom. As I stood in front of the sink, trying to make my hair somehow look good, I heard something. I froze. This wasn't happening. Someone else had just come in when I hadn't noticed. The lights flashed on and off and Loki was standing directly beside me. I jumped and almost screamed. I kept my mouth shut though. I was actually really glad to see him. Talking about him with Thor even in passing, had been digging up feelings that I had been trying hard to repress.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, as though everyone in the diner could hear our conversation. I took notice of his appearance. He was wearing the same suit and green scarf combo he had been wearing at the tarmac. "Your hair is longer," I said, accidentally saying an observation aloud. He only smiled.

"Yours is shorter. You look well in my clothes," he responded seductively.

"Don't distract me by talking dirty. Now what do you want?" I knew that I was probably blushing, something I'd never done around him before. He'd never been lavish with compliments for me.

"I just wished to see you," he said, giving me a sad look like I had been hurting his feelings. I automatically wanted to apologize. I couldn't give him the satisfaction.

"They're expecting me back," I said, walking out of the bathroom door, praying that he'd teleported back to wherever he'd come from. He grabbed my arm in the hallway, where I knew that if the Avengers felt like it, they could see us. "Don't be stupid. Get out of here."

"I am not trying to trick you." Loki sounded angry or maybe even desperate at this point. I wanted to know what he was talking about but he was being totally idiotic if he thought for one minute that my friends wouldn't fight right here and now.

"Me either. How many times have I saved your ass from these guys? Please go." He let go of my arm. "I am begging you, Loki, please do not pick a fight here. Do not."

"I am not trying to fight as of this moment with anyone. I am trying to speak with you."

"Now is not the time for that. You had your chance to explain yourself. Please get out of here for my peace of mind." I felt like I was getting choked up and I could tell that he had something he really wanted to say.

"I heard you speaking with Thor about me." I bit my lower lip.

"They can see you."

"I do not care. Do not make me angry, Charlotte."

"Just go," I begged. "I don't want them to see you. I don't- I don't want them to hurt you. Can you please leave?"

"They cannot hurt me."

"I don't care!" I responded, almost breaking my hushed tone. The corners of his mouth turned upwards into a smirk as he realized that I still cared for him.

"I can make it so they do not see us," he said down to me while putting his hand against my face. It was such a genuine gesture, I almost wanted to hug him. I shook my head fervently. I didn't want him to use up energy that I wasn't actually sure could run out.

"Don't touch me like that," I said, weakly pushing at his forearm. He dropped it while his lips clenched together. "You can't just… You can't just play with someone's emotions like that. I know I'm just a human but-"

"That has naught to do with this. How could you possibly believe that anything I am doing is playing with your emotions?"

"Because you are! What do you call breaking into people's rooms and stealing their clothes then replacing them with your own? That's not romance on Midgard. Hell, that's just creepy on Midgard. And of course, you pretty much stalk me, what with just showing up on the tarmac, making poor Thor feel terrible since that was the first time he'd seen you in months." He visibly weakened at my mention of all of those things. "Look, I'm sorry. I enjoy seeing you in a really sadistic way; is that what you wanna hear? You want me to break down and say that I love you or something? Why would that make you feel better? You were using me." He shook his head.

"It was never like that. I will leave you but perhaps you should consider that I enjoy seeing you as well, that perhaps this is not fully a game to me." I nodded at him, acknowledging his advice and then he disappeared, leaving me alone in the archway. I walked back to the group and decided to play it like nothing had happened. I claimed that I'd been talking to Jane and teasingly reprimanding her about not informing me of Thor's eating habits.

We all finished our food, including Thor, although he'd made certain to offer me some of his because according to him, I hadn't eaten very much. He also said that as a "mortal human," I needed to keep my strength up. I noticed he didn't offer anything to Natasha or Clint and I wondered if he even realized they were regular people. Well, they certainly weren't regular. They had great skill sets that your average "mortal human" didn't so I guess I truly was the only one there.

The waitress then came back and asked how the checks would be split up. "Um, all individually except put his on mine," I said while gesturing at Thor. The waitress raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. I put my debit card in the book the minute she handed it to me, desperately wanting to avoid seeing the real cost.

Tony drove us home and I lounged in the backseat between Thor and Steve again, beginning to actually enjoy the dynamic between the three of us. Two muscular and gorgeous blonde dudes with a short and small redhead between them. It must've looked like a sight.

When we got back in, everyone dispersed after Tony advised everyone to not let Fury know about Loki coming in. I agreed with him. It was part of the reason I hadn't confessed to talking with Loki in the diner. Steve had been acting off since then and I worried that he'd seen us. At the very least, Steve would never say anything but at the same time, I wished he would. If he had seen us and if he really was jealous of Loki, why wouldn't he say anything? How could I possibly get in more trouble? I couldn't, not really, not anymore. It sickened me to think of how great a guy Steve is and how I was continually putting him underneath Loki. He deserved a lot better than that.

**Hey ya'll! I hope you're getting excited for some fight scenes because they are coming up!**


	25. Chapter 25

Once I got in my pajamas (which happened to be sweatpants that I'd just bought and another of Loki's thermal shirts), I went downstairs and sat on one of the couches with Bruce. I was exhausted but I knew that I needed to stay up. Thor was hungry again so he was rummaging through the kitchen. I figured he could do that without my help. I noticed the others were walking through as well. Natasha came and sat on another couch. It was like none of them ever had pajamas. Didn't they ever want to be comfortable? I knew that Thor wasn't comfortable in our clothes anyway so I couldn't imagine pajamas.

"Tony, how bout one of your famous drinks?" I asked saucily.

"You'll get knocked out if you drink what I'm used to," he responded.

"I don't care." This stuff with Loki was starting to sink in. What am I supposed to mull over? Maybe he enjoys seeing me too? Can't he just stop bothering me? This is not making things easier for me. On top of that, I don't think he actually got out what he'd wanted to say. Of course, I'd been a total asshole to him so maybe that was more my fault but I didn't want him to get caught. I also didn't really want to hear whatever it was so maybe that had been more of a defense mechanism than anything else.

I looked up and saw Thor, Tony, Clint, and Steve talking in the kitchen. The conversation looked intense and I was openly confused. Steve walked away from them and sat beside me on the couch. Thor, Clint, and Tony were still talking when I turned to Steve. "What were ya'll talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing important. Just some team exercise or something that Coulson advised us to do," he responded. I nodded.

"Really?" I said, still looking at the three of them. The conversation was heated on all sides. Then I saw the three of them nod at each other and walk into the living room. Tony handed me a glass. "I totally didn't expect you to do what I asked but it's a nice surprise." I automatically took a sip and then grimaced. It was strong but everything else was way too weird.

The four of them totally hadn't been talking about a "team exercise" but Steve probably wouldn't own up to that unless I owned up to talking to Loki in the diner. I'd have to do it eventually. It might as well be tonight. I sipped at my drink for awhile longer while Tony's tech team finished up installing Jarvis. At the first availability, Clint walked upstairs to get in bed.

I polished off the glass and felt woozy. Maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind to talk to anybody, let alone to talk to them about Loki. I curled my legs underneath me on the couch and entertained Bruce's interest in CSI for awhile, as did Steve, Natasha, and Tony. Thor was just as enthralled as Bruce was, although for different reasons. Bruce wanted to correct them where they were wrong, Thor was just interested in anything on TV.

Tony got up and raised his eyebrows at me. I shrugged and got up and followed him into the kitchen. I liked the looks of the kitchen because it was big enough for several people to be in it at once. I slid my glass to Tony across the counter of the island and leaned forward onto it, resting my head in my hands. "You sure you want another one?" he asked. I only nodded in response, my head still buried. It wasn't long and he had touched the cup to my hands. I raised my head and gripped it. Tony leaned forward beside me.

"Do you think you could manage to come downtown to my office in a couple of days?"

"Why?" I asked, knocking some of the drink back. The harshness lessened with every sip.

"I've got something I need to talk to you about." I noticed that he'd lowered his voice and I glanced back in the living room. Steve's and Thor's eyes were on me. "Do not say anything to Steve. I'm dead serious. The less people know about this, the better."

"Maybe I'm tipsy but what the hell is going on that I can't tell Steve? Weren't you just talking to him?"

"We had an impromptu meeting but he opposed me talking to you about this. Thor, Clint, and I agreed. Steve said he saw Loki talking to you."

"That's the catalyst for this?" I asked, polishing off my drink. "What do you need to tell me?"

"It's better if it doesn't happen here. It's not bad so don't get worried."

"I have to think that it is bad if Steve opposed it. Sorry but I trust him more than the rest of you."

"Touché but seriously, this is the rare time where you need to trust me. I am begging you to not tell him."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Clint and Thor are on my side with this. Don't you trust them?"

"Mildly."

"Listen, sometimes Steve is a little too naïve about things. Sometimes you have to break the rules."

"A lot of the time, he does. If it's the right thing to do, he does it so I'm sorry if I trust his track record more than yours."

"Look, Stark Industries, 12pm on Thursday. You either come or you don't but you need to know some of this. If you come, you better not have revealed anything to Steve."

"You're doing this behind his back?" I asked, my brain fuzzy from the alcohol. Tony nodded so I shook mine in response. "I'm not lying to him."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking you to not tell him what's going on."

"That's the same thing as lying."

"Seriously, Charlotte, why do you have to have a crush on the most morally righteous of us? What's wrong with me or Clint? Hell, what about Thor? You and Thor would be a great match. Maybe I'll set you up."

"Are you the one that's drunk right now?"

"I'm just saying that Steve's the main problem with this plan. Actually, he's the main problem all the time."

"Are you trying to cover up the fact that _you're _the one with the crush on him?" Tony gave me an intense look. "Whatever, I wouldn't lie to Thor about anything either. I wouldn't lie to you. But you know the stuff Steve's done for me. I am not gonna do anything like lying to him. He's a really good guy and he's really great to me."

"Think of it as you will. I know you're drunk right now and I know you're into Steve. But I am telling you straight, for once, I am the one with your state of well-being, your best interest, at heart."

"I'm not sure about that," I said, half laughing about it.

"Fine, you caught me. I actually agree with Cap on this one. I know, you never thought you'd see the day but I have to do this because I have an office away from here."

"You don't think the cameras are catching what we're talking about right now?"

"That's the brilliant thing about Jarvis, Charlotte."

"If this can be covered up, why can't you tell me here?"

"I am telling you that this needs to be a secret, okay? You cannot tell anyone. Thor is gonna kill me if you don't agree to this."

"Why did you drag Thor into it?"

"He and Clint started it. Now let's go back in there. I'll talk to you about it Thursday." I shrugged, still totally groggy but I listened to him. We did look suspicious. I saw Tony flash a look at Thor, signifying that I'd agreed, I assumed.

It wasn't long and I decided to go up to bed. I had a lot of thinking to do like whether or not to believe the things Loki said and whether or not to go to Tony's building on Thursday. Unfortunately, I couldn't talk to anyone about either of those options. I noticed that Steve had trailed behind me and I knew that a confrontation about my conversation with Loki was about to start. I stood in my room for a minute, after really dressing down for bed, which meant basically keeping Loki's shirt on and putting on shorts. I couldn't help it; sleeping while I'm cold is still the greatest thing no matter how hard I try to stop enjoying it.

I glanced into Clint's room and saw him sprawled across his bed, dead asleep. When I looked over at Steve's doorway, I saw him standing in it. "What was Tony talking to you about?" he asked. I walked over to him and into his room so that we wouldn't wake up Clint.

"Loki. I assumed you knew that since you're the one who told him." I didn't know what had come over me but I had automatically decided to cover for Tony. It didn't mean that I had to go to his office but my curiosity was slowly getting the better of me. What could Steve not want me to know about? Steve made a solemn face at me, like he was sorry he'd said anything. "I'm not mad. I should've owned up to it. But you can't blame me for not wanting to get in even more trouble because of this."

"I don't blame you for that at all," he responded.

"That's what Tony wanted to talk about. You know, what he said to me and stuff."

"What did he say to you?" I paused, racking my brain for another cover up until I decided that I couldn't possibly pile another lie on top of the one I was already telling.

"He just wanted to see me. He said he wasn't trying to trick me. For the most part, it was me begging him to leave and telling him not to pick a fight with ya'll in the middle of a restaurant."

"Do you believe him? Do you believe that he wants to see you?"

"I believe he had something that he wanted to talk to me about that he never got to say since I was being an incomparable bitch. Listen, I'm kinda drunk right now and if you don't wanna hear some pretty blatant feelings about everything then I'm going to bed. I'm sorry I didn't own up to talking to him… I was… I was trying to protect him and I'm sorry about it except that I'm actually not." I turned to leave but Steve stopped me.

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty about it. I'm sorry I told them. I just… I just thought they deserved to know."

"You didn't tell everyone though, you only told Clint, Tony, and Thor. Why didn't you include Natasha and Bruce in that?"

"We think that they would tell Fury."

"So I'm to understand that ya'll are on my side now?"

"The four of us have always been there." I smiled at him and then got in bed.

When I got up, I walked downstairs and saw that all of the Avengers had gotten up before me. "So what's for breakfast, Charlotte?" asked Clint.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I mumbled, walking into the kitchen for something cold to press against my head. Whatever the two drinks were that Tony had fixed for me, they were strong.

"The last one that gets up has to cook the rest breakfast," said Tony.

"I can't cook worth a damn so if you want something edible, you might as well find someone else." I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and cracked it open (thank goodness that someone had known of my love for the Dr. when they went grocery shopping).

"You can't cook?" asked Clint.

"Dear lord, what would your mama say?" said Tony in that fake Southern accent. "Don't you need to cook for your husband someday?"

"It's not the 1950s anymore, thank you, Tony." I drank a bit of my soda.

"Well, your boyfriend sort of is so…" I spit out my drink and automatically started coughing. I couldn't even bare to look in the living room at them now. I heard Clint laughing his ass off and Tony was cracking up. I knew that Steve was probably blushing up a storm.

"I hate you both!" I screeched.

For the next couple of days, I systematically went down into the shooting ranges with Steve and then I spent some time with Thor, telling him about things and phrases. We never had the time (or the privacy) to talk much about Loki and I really wanted to talk to Thor about the diner. To tell him that Loki looked guilty about showing up at the tarmac and upsetting him. But I couldn't say that. I couldn't say anything about Loki or about talking with him when I was in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

When I woke up Thursday morning, it felt like I was going to puke. It was going to put me in a lot of pain to sneak out of here, to lie to the others. I didn't want to do it. As the hours crept by, I kept feeling sicker. Around 11:30, Clint told Steve that he and I were going to go buy some groceries. Steve didn't appear to think anything of it which only served to make me feel worse. When I got in the elevator with Clint, I turned to him. "Why are you going with me?" I asked. I fumbled with my huge purse, switching it from hand to hand since I was so nervous.

"You know they wouldn't let you out of here on your own. It's bullshit but I'll get the groceries while you talk to Tony," he responded.

"What's going on?"

"Don't be nervous about it," was all he said in response. Everyone's advice to not be nervous about it and to not tell Steve had only served to make me more anxious.

We grabbed a taxi to Stark Industries, where Tony had been going most of this week, then I got out. I told a secretary that I had an appointment with Tony and she assured that I did then told me which floor to go to. If I was really going to his office, then it wasn't where most offices usually were. It wasn't that high up on the building, although it certainly wasn't the bottom floor. When I saw the room number, I knocked and Tony opened it, revealing what seemed like a bar/lounge area with floor length windows at the back. An odd thing for an office building, even one that Tony owned. I noticed a tinted window behind the bar and another door. Maybe there was some point to it being a fake police interrogation room.

"To be honest, I'm actually shocked you showed," he said. I threw my purse up on my shoulder and commenced into just playing with my hands.

"I'm pretty shocked too. Clint told me to not be nervous but it was pretty impossible."

"Yeah, we all knew it'd be hard for you to lie to Steve. That's why I had Clint do most of the talking to him today." I nodded.

"You said you were on Steve's side with this? Why did you offer up your office if that's the case? You changed your mind. What did it?"

"I'm gonna be pretty serious with you about this stuff." I raised my eyebrows, not at all believing that. "What changed my mind about telling you is the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. treats you like you're the greatest criminal we've ever had to deal with. They cut you off from your files, they took away your privileges to live alone, and it's all so bad because you were the most prized non-Avenger employee for the longest time. I can identify with you because obviously, I'm not a total member of the team. You're the one who even got them to consider giving me more than consultant privileges."

"Tony, last I checked, you didn't wanna be a member of this 'super secret boy band.'"

"I think they can take my suit. That's what even keeps me around, to be honest. I suspect that you'd have left a long time ago if you could."

"They've threatened me with jail time, of course, I can't leave."

"They've threatened me, Banner, and probably Thor with destruction of public property. Thor won't care about it. He's stuck around because of you and Jane but those charges can really hurt me and Bruce."

"Can they can actually steal your tech because of something like that?"

"I don't know." Tony had been intensely serious the whole time and it made me even more nervous. This really was imperative.

"What exactly am I here for, Tony? I'm getting really worried now."

"We're all getting a little sick of being under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s thumb, if you get what I'm saying." I contemplated it. This information he had for me was going against S.H.I.E.L.D., which of course, I could've figured out since he was strict on not talking to me there. "We're also sick of the way they've treated you."

"Why is Steve against this?" I asked.

"He's following the orders we were all given. Thor never wanted to follow them and Clint's been angry from day one. When I got to thinking about it, I agreed with them. Steve's not gonna go against anybody there. They've treated him like a god and Clint thinks he's worried that they'll make sure he can't be around you. But all four of us are worried about you'd take this."

"_I'm _getting worried at this point."

"Charlotte, when I tell you this, you have to promise me that you won't do anything rash."

"What are you talking about? Why would I do something rash?"

"Just promise me." That's when I felt something in the air; something extremely cold.

"Do you feel that?" I whispered, lowering my voice even though we were alone. The cold made me think of one thing and one thing only. Loki. "He's here."

Tony ran past me and jerked open the door near the tinted window. "Get in here. He's got to be here for me. Stay in here and don't do anything to get yourself noticed." I'd been shut in before I had a chance to respond. I noticed that that one way window was in here. This room was like a closet with the window more than likely there for style in the lounge area. I looked through it as I saw Tony making himself a glass of scotch. That's when Loki flashed in. Tony jolted, almost dropping his drink. I kept my hand securely over my mouth to make sure that I didn't give myself away. But there he was, a mere ten feet from Tony, standing in full Asgardian regalia. His hair seemed longer still.

"Where is she?" I heard Loki's voice clearly.

"Where is whom?" Tony asked, clearly trying to divert the situation. "I know a lot of 'shes.' You should narrow down my list."

"You know very well who I am speaking of," responded Loki, his voice filled with rage. I wanted to shrink away from the window but it was impossible to look away. "She is not in S.H.I.E.L.D." He'd been looking for me? Why?

"I don't know. Why didn't you ask one of the others? Steve surely knows where she is." I bit my tongue. He was just going to keep on saying stuff like this, wasn't he?

Loki appeared to smile a bit at that. "I know the soldier was there." My hands were shaking. "Where is she?"

"I'm curious about why you've started to care about where she is now." Loki was trying to keep his expression controlled.

"I will kill you and all of those others."

"We call ourselves the Avengers," said Tony, helping Loki with the terminology of the "others." "Earth's Mightiest Heroes, type thing. But let's do a quick headcount. We've got two of the world's best assassins, a guy with staggering anger issues, your ex-girlfriend, a demi-god, a super soldier, and me. And somehow you've managed to piss us all off." Loki only responded with a smirk. "But may I ask what it is you want with her?"

"I wish to speak with her about getting away from you."

"Oh, don't worry. I don't plan on getting your girl pregnant or anything. I'm no danger." I was begging Tony in my head to stop antagonizing him. Without the suit on, Loki could probably do quite a bit of damage to him.

"She should be away from all of you."

"You mean she should join you in your quest to rule Earth or that we're more dangerous to her than you are?"

"When I kill all of you, I do not wish for her to be killed as well."

"Caught in the crossfire type of thing? Listen, I know it's great to talk yourself up, I do it all the time, but there is literally no way you can beat us."

"I have an army." What? How? From where?

"We have a Hulk." Tony finally moved out from behind the bar. Loki only smiled in response.

"Keep Charlotte away from you all and especially from Thor, if you care about what's good for her. I'll find her, of course, with or without your help." There was a threat implied in his tone and I certainly hoped Tony understood it. I thought about walking out in front of them to end the argument.

"If you wanna have a discussion about keeping Charlotte safe, you ought to talk to 'the soldier.' He's pretty big on that too." My breath caught in my throat as I saw Loki grab Tony by the neck and lift him up.

"I am guessing that it will be without your help?" Loki smirked and then I watched in shock as he threw Tony out of the glass window.


	26. Chapter 26

I busted out of the door without thinking. "I knew something like that would draw you out," Loki said as he blocked me from running to the now open window. I wanted to make sure Tony was alright.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I screeched as I turned to get out of the office. He grabbed my arm once I'd reached the hallway and I noticed that he'd somehow changed into a suit and his spear had become a cane. I turned and slapped him in the face fast and when his grip loosened I took off toward the stairs. Before I'd reached them, Loki was standing in front of me and he looked angry. "Leave me alone!" I yelled at him.

"You are incredibly stupid if you thought that hitting me would let you get away," he said, grabbing my arm again. I cried out and he dragged me down the stairs. "Act like a normal human being or I will snap your neck," he whispered to me as we walked through the lobby. His grip on my arm was unusually cold even for him. I didn't look but I thought for sure he was letting his inner Frost Giant out and that his hand was turning blue. My skin was prickling through the office blazer that I'd worn.

"You're the one that's stupid if you believe for one minute that I will listen to anything you have to say now." My hands were shaking, as they usually did at anything involving Loki. I noticed the receptionist was staring at us, more than likely because of how beautiful Loki was. "Just let me call 911 or something. You could have _killed _him!" Realistically, I knew that Tony's fall had been witnessed and no doubt, someone had already dialed 911. I was planning on 'accidentally' calling S.H.I.E.L.D.

"You are not in a place to negotiate with me, Charlotte." I felt like sobbing. Tony could have broken his back or even be paralyzed. I flashed a look at the receptionist in one last attempt. Her face showed recognition at my fear and I saw her pick up her phone. Men moved outside of the glass doors. Clint was one of them.

Loki walked out as though he hadn't noticed the men. When one of them moved toward him, he pushed me backwards and I fell down, although I knew that hadn't been his intention. The police were now moving towards us; the ones who weren't busy helping Tony. Clint was running past them once he'd caught a glimpse of me and I looked back at Loki before scrambling to get up. Loki took his spear (which now resembled a cane) and used the end of it to smack the security guard approaching him. I pushed myself up. "Clint!" I called.

Before I'd had the chance to move, Loki's blisteringly cold hand had gripped my arm again. I felt the cold through my jacket again and I made a noise at how unnerving it was. "I thought you were alone," he said and his voice didn't sound remotely human. Thinking back, he'd never sounded human. But he was gritting his teeth at me and I was frightened. I'd never seen him this angry.

"I'll be alone when my friends finally get rid of you," I said and jerked my arm away because he let me. It would've been impossible otherwise. He was simply too strong for me. Then he gave me a pained look and I knew for certain that he wasn't faking emotion to make me like him. He had no reason to do that now. He was genuinely hurt. "If you wanna talk to me, that's what you should've done. Throwing my friend out of a window… Well, you're definitely on my bad side now."

Clint reached my side and tried to pull me away before the police officially took either me or Loki. Apparently, it had looked like a Bonnie and Clyde situation. Loki disappeared and I took off running with Clint toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. van that was now waiting for us. I climbed into the backseat with him and saw that Phil was driving. He sped off before the police could approach us. My breathing finally slowed as Clint put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. His body was shaking from nervousness. He didn't say anything to me the entire ride to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical facility and I appreciated it. I figured if I actually spoke then I would start crying.

I tried to focus my mind on other things, like the cover story for us visiting Stark Industries. My mind had a million thoughts going through it at a mile a minute. The one thing it focused on was Loki's pained face. When we pulled up in front of the medical facility, I saw the other Avengers standing outside, waiting for Clint and I to get out. I wondered how much they knew about what had happened. Maybe Tony and I were the only ones who knew the real story. Maybe they genuinely thought that Loki and I teamed up. I couldn't take that kind of judgment right now.

"You face them now and you can stress later," said Clint. "All they'll want is for you and Tony to file a report for them."

"They think I did this, don't' they?" I responded. "They think I did this."

"No," said Clint as he put his hands on my face, "none of us think that you could've done this." I realized that I'd been crying without realizing it. I hugged him close to me as Phil pulled back the van door. I was pretty plainly crying and Clint was shaking. He was more worried about Tony than I'd ever seen him and I think that seeing Loki that close to him had unsettled him. I followed Clint out of the backseat and saw everyone's gaze on us. Fury was already inside with Tony, no doubt, calling the shots on what was happening to him in there.

Thor, who had only been mildly worried a minute before, looked full on stressed when he saw me and Clint. Steve and Bruce looked incredibly worried. Natasha ran towards Clint to tell him how Tony was doing… and I noticed that the conversation didn't include me. Clint gave me a reassuring look while Thor moved toward me in a daze. I knew he wanted to make me feel better, that was just his nature, but I couldn't bear to see him after what had happened with Loki. Thor saw the look on my face and just rested his hand on my shoulder before moving back, deciding that he would rather talk to me later. Steve finally moved toward me after what felt like a decade and I walked forward and met him. He pulled me toward him and I started crying again while he reassuringly put his hand on the back of my head.

None of us were allowed in to see Tony for awhile. After I'd calmed down and Clint seemed less nervous, I walked to the bathroom to clean up. When I walked back, I paused in the hall before turning the corner. Everyone was clearly talking about me.

"Why was she even with Stark?" asked Phil.

"We'd just decided to stop by. I let her go in while I fetched groceries. When I came back, Tony had fallen onto a car… and she was being walked out by Loki," said Clint. So obviously, we were keeping the same story from before; at least for Phil and Fury.

"We need to ask her what happened," said Fury. "Was she in on Loki being there?"

"I can't believe you would even suggest that!" said Steve.

"She is so torn up about this, Fury," said Clint. "Besides, she wouldn't aid in hurting any one of us. You said that yourself back in New Mexico. She's already sick thinking that we believe she did that. There's no way in hell she would ever try to do something like that to any of us, let alone Tony."

"Why did he kidnap her at all?" asked Thor, whose face was a mask. I couldn't tell where his mind was on the matter.

"When I walked up, I heard her say that if he'd wanted to talk to her, he should've just done that. She'll never forgive him for this and she made that very clear." Damn straight. "But I have to tell you, when she'd said that to him, his face was just… I mean, he looked like…"

"What did he look like?" asked Bruce.

"It was the most broken hearted look I've ever seen, let's just put it that way. And when he walked out of the building with her, the security started approaching them and he pushed her out of the way. She accidentally fell and he looked back to see if she was alright before he even thought about hurting those guards. It was unnerving to see someone like _him _do something like that." It felt like my heart had stopped beating. I peered around the corner again and Steve's face had gone pale.

"He is not an uncaring being," said Thor. I emerged from the hallway before they had the chance to carry on anymore conversation.

"I suppose ya'll wanna know what happened," I said, my heart still pounding. I felt like I was going to be sick. Tony was in the hospital because I hadn't stepped forward soon enough and the weight of everything I'd just heard was almost too much. I relayed as much information as I could remember, that Loki had been looking for me to talk, that he supposedly had an army, and that he'd been in the pent house to find me.

"He threw Tony Stark out of a window because he wanted to talk to you?" asked Natasha. I shrugged.

"He's insane and he's going after world domination. I wouldn't put it past him."

"And you said his goal was to keep you away from us?" asked Steve.

"I don't mean to unnerve anyone but he said that he didn't want me to be killed in crossfire when he went after all of you." Bruce's face looked harrowed and Thor was having trouble keeping his composure. Steve's eyes focused on the tile floor beneath him and Fury appeared to be thinking.

"Did he say anything specific about his army?" asked Clint. I shook my head.

"Literally nothing other than that he had one. As soon as he said that, Tony said that we have a Hulk." As they all took it in and Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony, I said, "Since you now know everything, would someone please tell me how Tony's doing?"

"You all should be able to go in and see him soon," said Fury. "Fortunately, not much damage was done. We're unsure as to how that happened." But the look everyone exchanged at that told me that they were pretty sure of what it was. I didn't respond to it. "It's very minimal damage. They're working right now to see whether or not he has a concussion. When that test is done, he'll be allowed visitors. As for now, Agent Coulson and I are leaving to go get the final touches done on some things back at the facility." With that, they turned and left and I finally took a seat beside Steve. Pacing around had been my vice so far.

After awhile of menial conversation, someone told us that one by one we could see Tony. Clint went in first and he signaled at me when he came out of the door. I walked in and saw Tony sitting up, as though nothing had happened to him. "Hey, how you doing?" I asked nicely. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm pretty pissed, actually. The doctors say I have to stay longer even though I'm healthy as a horse. Can you believe that?" he responded.

"Yeah, since you fell down a few stories, I can definitely believe that." I crossed my arms and sat on a chair near his bed. "You want me to get you anything? A PlayBoy perhaps?" He laughed. "Seriously though, I am really sorry. I thought about coming out of the room earlier just to stop the arguing but I just… I just ended up freezing."

"Hey, I told ya to stay in there for a reason. Talking probably isn't all he wanted to do with you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I wasn't in the mood for some kind of joke, even if Tony was ultimately feeling better.

"Clint mentioned that he told Fury and them about Loki taking you. I guess you weren't there. But Coulson's theory was that he wanted to kidnap you and then fight us while I was done. I can't blame him for wanting to knock me out. I am the best, you know."

"I didn't get the feeling that he was kidnapping me. But I was yelling at him about you."

"Clint told me about that too. Lemme just say that I cannot believe that you dated that asshole. He needs to be in a mental hospital."

"Believe me, I've learned my lesson," I responded. "Maybe now isn't the best time to talk to you about this but what was it that you were going to tell me?"

He paused for a moment and then shook his head. "It's really nothing."

"Really? 'Nothing' is why I had to lie to Steve and why Thor and Clint are having aneurisms? Sorry if I don't believe that."

"Really, Charlotte, it's not really important and I can tell that it wouldn't even matter to you anymore. It never should've been on me to tell you in the first place." I shrugged.

"I really am sorry about what happened, Tony. You have to believe me."

"Hey, I don't blame you. There was no way you were involved. But he should be worried. The next time he throws me out of a window, he better pray that I'm dead." I grinned at him and then I left with the others to go back to the pent house.

Steve didn't say much to me, which was actually pretty unusual; especially now that I really wanted some support. I curled up beside him on one of the couches while Clint and Natasha were making stuff in the kitchen. Thor sat on my other side. I was going to be kept under constant surveillance. Thanks, Loki.

The next day, Tony came home and began vigorously trying to stop being so sore from everything. Fury had told us that we really needed to be prepared now and I kept learning the guns down in the gym. The finalizations had been made on the helicarrier from what I'd heard and everyone's costumes were being brought out of storage, if they'd ever been put there. A few days passed and nothing had happened but then again, I hadn't expected anything major.

I was walking down the stairs into the living room, while toweling my hair dry after I'd gotten dressed and I paused when I saw what was on the television screen. Thor had followed me down the stairs and when I touched his arm, he stopped and looked as well. Loki was on the television and I could tell that some sort of destruction was about to happen. I didn't need the CNN headlines to know something very bad was about to happen.

My brain was so jumbled at seeing him that it didn't even register what he was doing. In fact, I think he was making some sort of speech. "You were made to be ruled," he said. I clutched the stair railing and Thor faltered. "In the end, it will be every man for himself."

All of the other Avengers had been standing in the living room, watching it the same as I had. At that last sentence, they all turned and stared at Thor and I. That's when Fury's voice rang through the apartment. "Avengers, assemble! Kent, that means you too."


	27. Chapter 27

I was lucky that I had already gotten dressed in a slouchy sweater and jeans. It wasn't the warmest outfit but I really didn't care. We all moved at lightning speed and I felt completely lost as I saw Clint run by me with a quiver and bow. Everyone's costume was onboard the helicarrier aside from Natasha's. She seemed to wear that thing all the time.

When I got on the helicarrier, Phil gave me orders to get the costumes out. Steve's had been sitting inside a glass case and Thor's had been being examined. I pulled them out, struggling with the heavy metal that made up Thor's breastplate and handed them to the both of them. Then I commenced on bringing out Hawkeye's. While they got dressed, I stood with Natasha, Bruce, and Tony in what resembled the meeting room from the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Bruce was pacing, obviously nervous. I fiddled with my hands to keep them busy, which meant incessantly playing with my hair.

Fury and Phil were talking business in the upstairs part of the helicarrier. The thing was so big that I'd barely had the time to examine it. "Is his army with him?" asked Natasha.

"I don't know," I responded even though she probably hadn't been asking me. "There was nothing in that footage."

"They're with him alright," said Tony.

"I can't do this," said Bruce. "I just can't. I could hurt one of you just as easily as if I hurt one of them." I sat down at the metallic table in the middle of the room and rested my head on my hand.

"You can do this," said Natasha. Bruce only shook his head in response.

"Get it together, Banner," said Tony. "We can't win this without the Hulk."

"What don't you understand about how unstable this is?" demanded Bruce.

"Clint's got tranquilizer arrows. You're covered."

"Tony!" I said to him, gesturing my head at Bruce.

"I'd forgotten you were there, Charlotte. Which is another question I have. Why are you here?" Tony was starting to snap under pressure, which I thought was highly unusual. But I knew that it meant insults were coming, for me and for the others.

"Because they told me that I had to be. If I had my way, I'd be lounging at home right now." I heard Clint and the others finally come in. Thor's arms were out of his outfit, emphasizing how muscular they were. I wondered where the arm pieces were because that was not his full outfit. Steve, bless his heart, looked really uncomfortable in his suit. I should've warned him that it wasn't at all like the one he used to wear. But I thought this one looked nicer. Clint was bearing his arms as well, eagerly trying to stand beside Thor and Steve and make up for what he was lacking in height.

"Damn, I was right… We are a boy band," said Tony, shaking his head.

"Everyone please sit at the table!" we heard Fury say. I was already sitting and I nodded at Steve to sit beside me. Thor came to my other side and Tony didn't sit beside anyone. He was just sitting, dejectedly, alone and was apparently in no hurry to suit up. I crossed my arms, wondering why I'd been dragged here in the first place.

Fury walked down in front of us and sat at the head of the table. I hid my hands underneath it, in case he got any crazy ideas about cuffing me again. "Sir, do you mind if I ask why on Earth am I here? I have to agree with Loki here. I don't wanna get killed in crossfire," I said. He didn't even return my look to answer me.

"Full proof protection, Kent. We are giving you full proof protection. You're not going down there. It's too dangerous," he responded. Thor, Steve, and I openly relaxed at that statement. The three of us were weirdly attuned to each other or we were all worried about me getting killed. "You sure as hell weren't staying back there alone." I looked up at the ceiling and was silently thankful I wasn't going to have to face Loki today. "Now listen, you were all gathered for a reason. You know that. There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could." I was familiar with the idea and even with that sentence. It was in all sorts of files related to the Avenger Initiative. "I still believe in heroes." I almost openly rolled my eyes. He was trying to rile them up, as if that would force them to become a team.

I exchanged a side glance with Steve and immediately felt a pang. He could get hurt. Hell, they all could be. I looked over at Bruce and he was so clearly nervous that I felt bad for him. He was right. The Hulk was uncontrollable and we all knew it. It had taken one of Clint's arrows and major sweet talking from Natasha to even get him here. He still sort of resented everyone for wanting him to be recruited. I was convinced, based on his data, that if he really tried and really wanted to then he could control the Hulk. It was a part of him as much as anything else was.

Fury had risen and was still talking while my mind went on to other things. Whatever he was saying was meant to be encouraging. Tony and Clint were rolling their eyes. They knew it was put on. Fury was never like this. That's when I began to get really concerned. If Fury was trying to give a pep talk, then he really doubted the Avengers' ability to get it together. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that none of them had trained together. Everyone was focused on one thing and that was themselves. They had no clue how each other worked. Clint and Natasha were maybe the only ones vaguely familiar with each other. Everybody had at least a small understanding of the Iron Man suit but everything else was a guess. I, Fury, and maybe Phil were the only ones here that completely understood everyone on the team. This was going to epically fail.

I became keenly aware of Fury as he approached Thor and said, "Gentlemen, what are you prepared to do?" I grabbed Thor's hand under the table on instinct and Fury looked between me and Thor. He'd pretended to say the question to everyone but he was only asking the two of us. I gave him a glare that Loki would've been proud of. He backed off but it was obvious that he didn't trust Thor not to screw something up. It was also probably the reason that I was sitting in the helicarrier and not in the apartment.

"Get your weapons together in the backroom and discuss strategy. I'm getting feedback now that something major is happening in Manhattan." Fury walked away, obviously listening to his ear piece. "Kent, you make sure that everyone gets their mic on and relay the strategy to me. You're in charge of guiding them. Do not make me regret it. I'm going to find out the details on the situation." I walked with them there after putting on a wire, now intensely nervous but also incredibly flattered that I was being put in charge of something. I was going to have to do a really good job. This was a good sign. Maybe they were beginning to trust me again.

I started opening up drawers and I slid guns to Natasha and gave a folded up bow to Clint. I watched as he made a motion and it automatically clicked open. "Thor, do you have Mjolnir?" I asked.

"I do have it," he responded, picking it up from the floor where he'd been letting it sit.

"Hey, can I use that thing sometime?" asked Tony. "I think it'd be awesome to use it with my suit on." I laughed at that.

"It has to deem you worthy, Tony. I doubt it'll think you are," I responded. Thor laughed while Tony got flustered.

"So you think you can pick it up?"

"I didn't say that, did I? Now why don't you make yourself useful and get on a wire then suit up? Do you need me to put it on you?" He rolled his eyes at me.

"I have no idea how to put on these wires," said Steve. When I turned, Thor looked confused as well.

"I'll help the both of you. I doubted you'd get it. I'm gonna have to tape them to you and I don't think I can put it on the outside of either of your suits. Maybe I can on Steve's. You're jumping out of the helicarrier, did ya'll know that?" Fury had just mentioned the idea to me. Steve, Thor, and Tony all took a nonchalant attitude to the idea. Natasha didn't seem openly bothered but Clint and Bruce were obviously uncomfortable with it. "I can lower ya'll down because Clint, you wanna be on the top of buildings anyway, am I right?"

I was still manically going through drawers, trying to find backup weapons for everyone. Then I finally opened the glass case with Steve's shield inside it. Steve's things had been on display after they'd been analyzed a year ago. I was lucky they'd put everything on the helicarrier. "I'm sorry but I just don't know if I can do this," said Bruce.

"Okay, since Fury's not here, I guess I'm in charge and I'm gonna have to rev you up," I said. "I've read your file. In fact, for the most part, I wrote it. I'm sure that's something that Fury has held over all of your heads because he didn't want you to trust me. Well, you need to trust me right now. That part of you, the Hulk, is something you should be able to treat like a muscle. It doesn't have to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The gamma brought that out, sure, but you can control it. It just takes practice. I'm sorry I didn't stress that to you earlier. That's probably what you should've trained. Actually, lemme go on and ask a general question to everyone here; did any of you train at all?" Most of them nodded their heads and I had expected them to. "I'm talking about training with each other." They were silent. "I'm not giving you the go-ahead until you have a plan and until you know what to do. Since I'm the one with the most knowledge on all of you, I'm going to decide the pairs you fight in. Are ya'll familiar with that? You've got people with similar strengths or people who can help each other who are partners. They have each other's backs even if they're separated. I'm sure ya'll have been briefed on some sort of strategy here." Again, they were silent and were looking between each other. Aside from Tony, who looked like he loathed the idea of being here, and Steve, who obviously understood strategy better than the rest, they all looked confused. "I mean, did you even decide on a leader? There has to be one."

"I nominate myself for it," said Tony. I crossed my arms. "Obviously, I've been a superhero the longest and I always win. I mean, tell me one time when I haven't won. Need I remind everyone of the Stark Expo last year?" I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Need _I _remind _you _that you were tested and denied because you can't do teamwork? I'm not willing to give the go-ahead on you, Tony. Your strategy during fights is off the charts and you only think about one thing: yourself," I responded. He looked angry at me.

"Aren't you a consultant anyway?" asked Natasha.

"I'm not giving this suit over to anyone, sweetheart," he responded. "But it's not up to Charlotte anyway."

"Fine, you want a democracy?" I asked. "I guarantee you that they will agree with me."

"She's right though, Tony," said Clint. "You can't do teamwork. How do you expect us to vote you as leader?"

"Who else could do it?" he asked. I shrugged. "Bruce is unstable, Natasha's not a leader, Thor is confused, and Clint's not gonna oppose me."

"Yeah, you really won my vote there," said Clint sarcastically.

"There's the option you didn't mention," I said. "And it's the choice I would pick." Everyone but Tony had turned to look at Steve. Tony kept his eyes on me.

"Yeah, we know why you'd choose him." Color burned in my face and Clint was looking between Tony and me, obviously expecting a major fight.

"I'm not gonna bicker with you about that, Tony. If you're jealous, you're jealous, what can I say?" Clint laughed but I kept my eyes on Tony. "Seriously, what's wrong with that idea? Aside from that fact that you wouldn't be controlling everything. Do I need to bust out his file here and remind everyone of who Steve is? He is freaking Captain America! He is the only one of you that understands teamwork while fighting and is the only certified leader. You can say you have qualms with me but he's clearly the obvious choice. Would you do it, Steve?" I asked, finally looking over at him. He nodded and walked forward. "Is everyone else okay with that?" Everyone except Tony nodded.

"No offense but I don't play well with others," said Tony, directing his comment at Steve. I stood back with Clint.

"Big man in a suit of armor, take that away and what are you?" asked Steve.

"This is gonna be good," Clint whispered to me.

"A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Thor laughed.

"I hope Steve makes a dig at his father," Clint whispered.

"You're terrible," I replied.

"I think I won that argument," said Tony. I shook my head at him.

"I don't even think you understood the insult."

"Just 'cause I don't take steroids-"

"No." I had to keep from laughing because Tony was really being put in his place. "He's implying that without either of your super powers, he's still a good guy and you're still an asshole." Thor laughed again and I even made Steve smile at it. "No questions but today, Steve is your leader. If ya'll wanna change that later then feel free but we've gotta get it together now. Sadly, I'd already paired ya'll off before these arguments so… Steve and Tony, you're a pair. Clint and Bruce. Natasha and Thor. Are ya'll good with that?" Solemnly everybody nodded except Tony. "Tony, grow a pair please. You're not always gonna get your way. Now get that wire on and suit up. Thor and Steve, come over here. And Thor take off that shirt or top or whatever you call it."

"Get it, Charlotte!" said Clint.

"Is your wire on, Clint?" I asked, trying to get away from his incessant teasing.

"Yeah, and Fury had mentioned that some have little cameras too. Do you have one of those for them?"

"I can't put one of those on Thor. This stuff can't be taped on this metallic suit. But give me one for Steve." I made Steve go over and get his wire while I body-taped a wire to Thor. As he put his top back on, I gave him the earpiece. "Just slightly put it in there. It's so that you and your partner and the whole team can hear each other, okay? The mic is what's taped to you. If you wanna direct a comment at someone during this, call them by their codename. Black Widow is your partner."

"What if I wish to speak to you?" he asked.

"Call me by my last name; Kent." He nodded at me and he looked worried. Steve was still talking to Clint about strategy and I heard Clint relaying it to Fury by my earpiece. "Are you okay with doing this?"

"It has to be done," he replied.

I stood on my tiptoes and put one of my hands over his mic while using my other hand to cover mine. "You want to protect him, don't you?" Thor only nodded.

"I do not believe they trust me with him. And perhaps, they should not." I backed away.

"Whatever you do, it's gonna be the right thing." I gave Thor a hug as Steve finally walked back over. "Would ya'll, um, would ya'll look out for each other?" I asked switching my gaze between the two of them. "It's just that I think that Tony may not care about being paired with you and that Natasha isn't gonna wait if you fall behind." I didn't mention that Natasha wouldn't stand for any sympathy towards Loki, which was the main thing that was probable to happen with Thor.

"Absolutely," said Steve and Thor smiled and nodded.

"Okay then Thor, you're set. Talk to the rest of them about the plan." Thor nodded again and walked over to the group. I turned my attention to Steve, now keenly aware of how nervous I was. My hands had been shaking unconsciously for awhile. I wondered why Thor hadn't said anything. "You do have a plan, right?"

"It's not a full proof one, no," he responded. I shook my head and took the wire from him. "Have you heard anything from Fury on what's happening?" He sounded nervous and I assumed it was because I was fidgeting and it was rubbing off on him, while I secured the wire on him.

"He's gonna tell me in a minute. I think they didn't want to upset us so that there could be a great plan. Since there isn't one…"

"We're worried about Thor turning on us. That's a pretty big concern." He looked down at me, obviously expecting an answer because Thor and I had grown so close. The whole team grouped us together because they thought we were going to be traitors when that just wasn't true.

"I'm not gonna lie and say that it's not a healthy concern. I don't think he'd jump ship. He's gonna go against that army at any rate. I think he would try to talk Loki down and try to convince him to forgive him which is not Loki's concern anymore. He thinks he can rule people, you know? Once that sinks in for Thor then you've got nothing to worry about."

"I wish that it would sink in right now."

"What if it was you over there doing that? Would you expect all of us to just be nonchalant about it? 'Oh, Steve wants world domination. Let's kill him!' There is no way. You've gotta look at it from his perspective. Now I can't keep you any longer. You've got to go. This is one of those mics with the camera on it, right?" He nodded, still anxious. "Why are you so nervous?"

"You're making all of us nervous. Well, me and Thor, at least." How was I to know that they wouldn't get killed or captured out there? I was worried sick.

"I'm sorry." And I was. "Just, uh… Just be careful, okay?" I bit my lip.

"Yeah… Of course," he responded. I nodded at him.

"Fury, give me the news," I said into my mic. I arrived back over at the group and they all looked eager to hear everything. I was pleased to see that Tony had finally taken the initiative to suit up. Fury's voice came through on everyone's feed.

"He's got an army, alright. An army that looks like aliens," he said.

"Aliens?" said Clint. Tony walked around, now angry.

"Loki's basically an alien too," said Natasha. "How many are there? What's happening?"

"We can't get an idea on how many there are," I heard Maria Hill say. I hadn't even realized that she was onboard. "They're in planes or something like that. Loki isn't in one, of course. He's down on the ground wreaking havoc."

"We have to send you down now," said Phil. "A S.H.I.E.L.D. team is already on the ground and they think he has a weak point. We may be able to catch him."

"You can't be seriously considering that," I said.

"If it's an option, Kent, then we have to do it," said Fury. "Now, Avengers, go and if you can, try to find the cube. He has to have it near him."

"The cube? What cube?" I asked. "Are you talking about a cosmic cube? Why the hell didn't anyone brief me on this?"

"We don't have the time. You've all wasted valuable strategy time by ganging up on one another." I shook my head.

"You better give me some answers later then." I heard a groan of noise on the other end of the line. "If you're jumping out, then please come with me," I said, following the path that headed toward the back. Thor, Tony, and Steve were beside me and there wasn't a one of them who didn't look incredibly nervous. It was unusual to see Tony seem worried about something but I took it in stride. "I'll open it and you can go one at a time. Good luck." I had to stand back to avoid air pressure sucking me out of the helicarrier. I pressed a button and Tony's mask closed and he jumped, automatically starting up those jets in his suit. Then Steve ran and jumped out, extending his arms outward. Thor then clapped me on the back and I jolted forward by the mere force of his strength. He then grabbed the strap of Mjolnir and powerfully held it while jumping out. I pressed the button again and the door closed.

My nerves were getting the better of me which was probably the reason that Fury had put me in charge. He knew that I might falter. But, I rationalized, he also knew that I was the only one who knew every single one of their strengths and would be able to pair them off. He and Phil were busy this time around, focusing on stuff that they hadn't told me. Like Loki having a cosmic cube, like the idea of capturing him. If they did that, it was because he wanted them too. They severely underestimated him and even if they didn't want to listen to me, I was going to warn them.

I walked back and Fury had told Natasha, Bruce, and Clint that they were going to be sent out on the ground. They seemed to be fine with it so I took a deep breath. I had to remind myself that these people were more than highly qualified to deal with an international threat like this. "Fury," I said into my mic, "I need to talk to you, Coulson, and Hill about something. The minute I send these guys off, it is imperative that we have a meeting."

"You've got it, Kent. Now let's get them on the ground," he responded.

When I turned back to the three remaining Avengers, I noticed that Clint and Natasha were sitting together and I heard her voice doubt. "We weren't trained for this," she said to Clint. Clint only nodded. The two of them had been at S.H.I.E.L.D. as long or even longer than I had been. Neither of them had superpowers and yet they were still going to give their all. They were commendable members of the team.

"We're not a team," said Bruce. "We're a time bomb."

"You're not gonna be able to do anything if you keep having that attitude. Do you want me to go down in your place?" I asked. Bruce froze. I heard something through my earpiece that was obviously opposing the idea but I couldn't tell who of the guys it was coming from.

"I'll go but that doesn't mean we're a team."

**Hey! Gosh, this was a really hard chapter for me to write and I have no idea why. But I'm already getting started on the next chapter. I love the idea of choreographing some fight scenes. Thanks for all of the feedback! I hope you continue to give me some!**


	28. Chapter 28

After we had let out Clint, Natasha, and Bruce, I ran to talk to Phil, Fury, and Maria Hill. I thought it was majorly important to talk them out of taking Loki. It may not matter but at least, I would've warned them. The three of them were waiting in the meeting room where the Avengers had been earlier. I pulled the mic away from my mouth and the three of them did the same.

"I wanna talk about trying to capture Loki," Charlotte said. "I think that's an incredibly bad idea." The three of the others had obviously expected this from me. It all boiled down to Loki in one form or another. It wasn't the first time that I'd felt like punching everyone.

"We think it'll take care of the problem early on," said Maria. It was clear that she was going to oppose anything I said. She couldn't stand me ever since we'd been roommates. "We give him an ultimatum."

"In all honesty, if they are able to bring him in, it's because he wants that. You have to realize that. It's a trick." The three of them were clearly not caring about my advice. They'd already decided on this. If there was a chance at taking him, the Avengers had to try. "Why don't we think about the last time he was within a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility? He was there because he wanted to be and there was no way to keep him there."

"No, Kent. What happened the last time he was in custody happened because your emotions got in the way," said Fury. "In case you've forgotten, you're technically the one that let him out, breaking several laws in the process." I crossed my arms. They were never going to let that go, were they?

"You saw the surveillance video the same as we all did. He told me that he could leave whenever he wanted and that he didn't need my help. You remember that, don't you?"

"Listen, Charlotte," began Phil, "we understand your concern but the facility here is ten times the makeshift one that we had in New Mexico. We have specific quarters we could keep him in."

"Chambers that could minimize his power? That's what you'd need. How do you expect the Avengers to bring him in if you deny that it would be in his plans? Please give me some information here."

"There are chambers that can minimize his magic," said Maria. "We've been working on them here since we got the call from New Mexico that he was on Earth." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you owe me some answers on the cube. How long have you known that he has one?"

"Not very," said Phil.

"That's not really telling me anything."

"You're here out of courtesy, Kent," said Fury. "Do not push your limits with me. We tell you what you need to know."

"Anything you tell the Avengers is something I need to know. I can't do anything unless you give me information." That's when various things were being called into our earpieces. This was falling apart, as I had predicted. I almost couldn't handle hearing them, especially not Steve.

"We'll have to discuss that later," said Fury, putting his mic back on. "What's going on?"

"There are too many of them," said Steve. "No one has heard from Hawkeye in at least ten minutes. Do you have any idea where he is?" My breath started falling out of time. Where was Clint?

"Hill!" commanded Fury. Maria nodded and immediately started opening one of the computers, finally logging into the cameras on each of the Avengers. I followed her. I certainly wasn't going to let her be hands on with them. "What's the word on the others?"

Everyone spoke in at once. Thor had immediately slammed down onto one of the planes, taking it down with a swing of Mjolnir. He and Natasha hadn't even been acting as partners. Steve and Tony were another pair who weren't acting together but that was predictable. Of course, no one could hear from Bruce but they'd seen him take down some planes. And as far as I knew, Clint hadn't checked in at all. I hadn't heard his voice since we'd let him off the helicarrier.

I tried not to melt down while I manically searched through their camera angles, trying to figure out where Clint was in the city. "Hawkeye's down, there's no question," I said. I was about to have a breakdown. They were probably regretting giving me access to all of this.

"Hawkeye, come in!" said Maria. "Hawkeye, are you alright?"

"Come on," I whispered, practically begging Clint to make a noise. The camera showed the same shot and had for awhile. I was certain he'd been knocked out but there was no one (or no alien) around. In fact, I had no clue what these things looked like.

"I'm regretting sending Stark out there," said Fury, covering his mic. "He's letting Rogers flounder." Fury almost hated Tony. He always showed up late to everything and clearly, didn't care for anyone but himself. He wasn't sure why he even allowed him to be a consultant and he was making that very clear.

"Is he okay? Should I bring up his camera?" I asked. I knew I looked incredibly nervous but hearing them constantly in my ear was unnerving. Fury nodded at me. I did as he asked and immediately said into my mic, "Cap, what is your location? I think you could be near Hawkeye."

"What are you talking about?" said Maria.

"Look at this," I said, opening up two windows with their camera angles side-by-side. "They're in the same area. They have to be. Did you hear me, Cap?"

"Yeah, I've got you. What does it look like where he is?"asked Steve. Maria started relaying information and she started glaring at me. Had it been anyone else telling Steve to stop and look for Hawkeye, he might not have responded. None of them would have. They all listened to me more than anyone else at S.H.I.E.L.D. and she was incredibly jealous.

"This is falling apart," said Coulson, covering his mic.

"You don't have to spare them!" said Fury. "They know it's all going wrong."

"Can we pull them out?" I asked. "I mean, at the minute that it looks like they're backing off. This is dangerous." I was covering my mic, the only one worried about making the Avengers nervous. I was doing it mostly for Thor's sake, worried about him getting set off. Phil didn't blame me. Thor needed to be walked through a lot of things. If there was a sign of panic, Thor would really react.

"I say that's what we do," said Phil.

"Hill and Kent, we're putting you back at the facility," said Fury. My mouth dropped open.

"No, I'm staying here!" I responded.

"Hill, you take a team out on the street. The Avengers need back up. Kent, you stay secure."

"Are you putting me under arrest?" I demanded. It was the only kind of "secure" he could possibly mean.

"Don't make me have to."

"Don't touch her, Fury!" Tony's voice came through. "I'll personally punch you." I breathed out, actually thankful for Tony for once in my life.

That's when we heard a bout of coughing through the earpieces. "Oh my God, Hawkeye, is that you? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah… yeah, it's me. I'm injured but Cap's got me," he said. I breathed a sigh of relief and exchanged a look with Maria. For once, we could agree on something. "Listen, I'm not being a coward or anything but there is no way we can win this." My heart sank even though I'd known that would be true. It reminded me of when Tony had been so confident in front of Loki.

"Hill, Kent," said Fury, "let's go." All of a sudden, he was ushering us off and I was back within S.H.I.E.L.D., pacing in the meeting room. I hadn't been able to see anything on the way out. Maria stalked off after creating a team and I began hearing things that were full of destruction. I heard the Avengers calling orders to each other but at the same time, yelling insults. That wasn't helping at all.

"Ya'll, stop bitching at each other and get it together!" I said into my mic. "Hawkeye, update me on your condition."

"I'm getting through it, Kent," Clint responded. "What's your location?"

"Secure in the facility."

"Stay there," said Steve. I nodded as if he could see me.

"You got it." My stomach was churning and it was only made worse by having to be stuck alone. There was literally no one walking through. I had never noticed how incredibly stark the whole place was. I wondered if I needed to start doing breathing exercises to calm myself down. What was I going to do the minute that Loki faced one of them? I didn't have to wait long.

"Hey, Kent, you mind if I smack this son of a bitch ex of yours back into Asgard?" Tony asked. My heart froze.

"Go for it."

"Now's the time I need you, Captain America," I heard him say. It was clearly said in a way to antagonize Steve but he did need the help. "Oh, Widow, you'll do. Let's get him."

"We are under orders to capture him?" asked Natasha.

"Absolutely," responded Fury.

"Don't-" I began.

"Kent, I am serious. Back off." I sighed. If they wanted to walk into his trap, then they deserved to. I'd said it and I'd warned them. If they wanted to be idiots, they were more than welcome to be.

"Earpiece out," I said as I heard a fight begin. I was also hearing a lot of stress from Clint, Steve, and Thor. I couldn't take it.

It was maybe thirty minutes later when I got a phone call from Fury. "Do not; I am begging you, Kent, do not make me regret this. We are stretched thin and I have no one else. Go down into the garage and get one of those vans and pick the Avengers up. Go to Park Avenue. You'll see everything from there," he said. I was in so much shock that I couldn't respond. "Kent, are you there? You need to do this now. Loki is with them."

"You want me to drive the getaway car?" I asked, still in disbelief. "Is there a huge risk for me?"

"We're not sure but since Loki is detained, we're thinking they'll back off. You've got to do this now. Put your damn earpiece back in and tell them when you're close. Be prepared for debris and do not worry about the Hulk. We'll have to get him."

"I'm sorry but are you saying that I need to pick up Loki along with the rest of the Avengers?"

"If you can't handle it, Kent, then I guess I'll have to do it. But I have to monitor all of this here."

"It's fine… I'll be able to do it. You said Park Avenue?"

"Yes. From there, you should be able to see it." I took off running down to the garage after putting my earpiece back in. Then I heard Fury come through. "Avengers, Agent Kent will be driving a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle down to get you. It's time to wrap it up."

"Have you seen the way she drives, Fury?" asked Tony.

"You want to walk back, Iron Man? I can make that happen." I grabbed some keys and found a van big enough for everyone.

"She can't come down here!" said Steve.

"No way," said Clint.

"Have a little faith in me, guys," I said, even though I didn't have much faith in myself at this point. My hands were shaking on the wheel. At least my bad driving skills might come in handy right now.

I pulled out into the road and miraculously, there didn't appear to be much damage near where I'd been. I wondered why I'd been able to feel it. It could've possibly had to do with the Hulk. After awhile of speeding in the opposite way of where most people had been going, I finally saw something. The van screeched to a halt before I almost hit another car head on. I looked above the wheel and saw people running away, much in the way that I'd seen cars speeding past me. My eyes fixated on figures in the background, which also appeared to be running away. I looked up to the sky and I saw that there actually were planes in the air but they were zooming away. I pulled the van back and swerved around debris, which meant cars that were turned over and pavement that looked incredibly torn up.

I put the brakes on again and I screamed as I swerved the van out of the way of one of the aliens. "Kent, are you alright?" demanded Clint.

"Oh my God," I said, as I just stared at it. They were blue and they looked incredibly unusual. I wondered if they were Frost Giants. I wondered if Thor had identified what they were. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Where are ya'll?" I drove off, attempting to outrun the alien. It felt like I was running from zombies.

"Thor's got me but get Iron Man and Widow first. They have Loki."

"Iron Man, Widow, where are you?" I kept driving and swerving. The condition that this vehicle would be in when I drove it back was questionable. There was no doubt that it was receiving damage.

"I see you," said Tony. "Pull to the left." I swerved as he said it and I saw him get out of the Iron Man suit and open the back door.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Never been better." That's when I saw Natasha coming forward with a harsh grip on Loki. Sadly enough, I had to admit that he looked radiant. Tony manhandled him into the backseat of the car with him and Natasha. Loki kept his sparkling eyes on my rearview mirror, making us have to exchange a look every time I looked back in it. I drove off fast, trying to avoid seeing the three of them in the backseat.

Loki's hands were tied with something that wasn't rope and something that wasn't handcuffs. I came on more aliens and zoomed past. "Why didn't I bring a gun?" I said, more to myself than anyone else. "Hawkeye, I see you," I said as he and Thor appeared in the distance. Clint was leaning on Thor and I couldn't tell the extent of the damage. As they crawled into the seats in front of Loki, Natasha, and Tony, I couldn't resist turning to make sure Clint was alright. "What is it? What happened?"

"It's my leg. It's nothing. I was ambushed from behind," he responded. I had unbuckled my seatbelt to take a look at it.

"Keep pressure on that," I said as I accidentally looked up and saw Loki staring at me. I froze and Thor locked his gaze on me. He nodded. I turned back and kept both hands on the wheel. Thor was as distraught about this as I was. "Where's Steve?" I asked, as I realized frantically that I hadn't heard him check in in awhile.

"Use codenames, Kent," said Phil.

"Sorry sir. Cap, where are you?" I started driving and I was going fast, trying to survey where he could be and also make sure that I didn't hit anything. "Come on, Steve. Where are you?"

"Codenames, Kent," said Tony in a mocking way.

"Where is he, Tony? He was your partner!" Then my eyes fixed on something in front of me and I knew that it was him. Aliens were all around down here and I thought I was going to freeze again. But I talked myself into staying focused. "Everyone, you better hold on because this is going to be fast." I hit the gas harder than I had ever done so, trying to get past aliens and when I thought I was close enough, I reached over and opened the passenger door, swerving to a halt. "Get in!" I screamed. Steve looked completely in shock and I motioned with my arm for him to get in.

"Holy shit, Charlotte, you need to become a drag racer!" said Clint.

"I'm just doing my job," I responded, as Steve closed his door. They'd all looked beat up but Steve really did. "Are you alright?" I asked him. He nodded in response and froze when he saw Loki in the backseat of the van. "You didn't know?"

"I didn't think they were being serious," he responded.

"You're not the only one."

"Can the two of you flirt later?" asked Tony. I turned in my seat so fast, I almost got whiplash. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless because he shut up. I drove back and watched as many of the aliens were receding.

"Well, that was a disaster," said Clint after awhile of silence. Thor was completely rigid in his seat and I noticed that Natasha was trying to avoid contact with Loki. She probably didn't like how cold he could be. Steve was having a hard time trying to not look in the rearview mirror and of course, Loki was smirking, knowing that he'd gotten underneath everybody's skin. I was focused on the road ahead of us, just grateful that everyone was alright… including Loki.

"How did the Hulk go?" I asked. Clint shrugged. He'd been knocked out for most of the fight and didn't want to acknowledge that he'd missed out on helping his partner.

"He destroyed some property," said Natasha, "but it helped knock out a few of their planes." It was good to hear that Bruce had pulled it together enough to be able to be a help. "I had to tranquilize him." I could tell she wasn't happy about having to do it but she probably insured that he didn't do anything too dangerous.

"I do not believe I've had the pleasure of knowing who you are," I heard Loki's charming voice say. He was talking to Natasha. I gripped the wheel harder than I thought was possible. She looked sickened by the fact that he was talking to her but I didn't care.

"You are not going to say another word, Loki, do you understand me?" I asked. "Don't talk to her. Don't talk to anyone. Just keep your mouth shut." Steve glanced over at me and he knew exactly what it was. Jealousy.

Loki stared towards me, almost grinning. "What could you possibly do to me?"

"You're not gonna get in my head so please don't bother." I rolled my eyes.

"I am already in your head," he said with a smirk and unfortunately, I knew he was very very right.

**Hey ya'll! Next week is my spring break and I'm going to the beach with some friends for most of the week so I don't know if I'll be able to update before the trip again. So unfortunately, this chapter isn't as long as it could've been. But I promise there will be more to come, at the very least by next weekend. I may be able to update this weekend but I'm just not sure. And did ya'll see the new trailer? I am literally so excited.**


	29. Chapter 29

We arrived back at the facility without anymore disruptions and Phil and a team had run out to greet us. When they dragged Loki out of the back of the car, my mixed feelings only increased. He wasn't putting up a fight at all. In fact, he didn't seem bothered that he was here. The men that took him into the building were being rather rough with him and I thought about saying something. But that would've, more than likely, made me look worse and I was trying to convince them that I was doing a lot better than before.

I avoided being near Loki when we got back in. S.H.I.E.L.D. was sending out operatives to the basic warzone we'd just come from and I went with Clint, Thor, and Steve to have a look at the damage done to them. Thor looked like he'd suffered a punch to face because blood covered it and Steve just looked banged up by this point. His metabolism was practically supernatural. Clint was the one we were worried about. His leg wasn't in the worst shape and he hadn't suffered a concussion when he fell; he'd just been knocked out. It could've been a lot worse but it meant that if they had to go out again soon that Clint was basically going to have to stay in one place the whole time. "Hey, what about that stuff they gave me for my hip?" I asked. The people working on Clint seemed to have no clue what I was talking about so I dropped it even though it was incredibly suspicious. It wasn't like we'd been working with people from a totally different company out there. Those medics belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. so how come the ones in New York, the ones at the "better" facility, had no idea about the miracle medicine that healed my side without a scar in under five days?

I decided not to question them. I didn't have the time when Loki was being locked up. His quarters were supposed to minimize his magic. I know that I'd suggested it and they'd been prepared anyway, but I worried about what else it could do to Loki. It could probably make him incredibly weak and while I guess that's exactly what we wanted, I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

After I couldn't distract myself and the others any longer, I approached Director Fury and Phil, who were standing outside of a holding room. Apparently, Loki had no idea there was a two-sided mirror and he didn't even know where he was. My breath caught in my throat when I saw him on the other side of the window, sitting as though the effort of that was just too much for him. I turned away almost immediately and I noticed that Thor did the same. We'd left Clint with the medics so we were minus two Avengers (Bruce was still coming down from being the Hulk) at this apparent spur-of-the-moment meeting. I crossed my arms and moved back to stand between Steve and Thor, who were still in their banged up costumes. Natasha was pacing, for once looking less than perfect. Tony didn't appear to have any outward expression. Phil was staring through the two-sided mirror into the holding room and my heart felt like it was going to explode. I was entirely too nervous.

"Is it hurting him?" I asked, after standing in silence for what felt like a lifetime. Fury shrugged. He wasn't going to give me a straight answer. It felt like he probably still didn't trust me.

"What's the plan?" asked Tony. "Are we going to interrogate him?" Fury nodded in response.

"Unfortunately, Barton was the perfect choice for that," said Phil. "We wanted him to see a familiar face."

"What about Natasha?" asked Steve. She shook her head. "Thor?" Thor froze beside me but I knew that he would do it if they asked him.

"I doubt that. Why would we provoke him by putting his prime target in front of him?" asked Phil.

"He's not the main target anymore," I said. "He wants to kill all of us. So it doesn't matter who you send in. More than likely, he'll try to hurt any of us."

"If that's true and you really don't care who we send in, why don't you do it?" I scoffed.

"That's a pretty great joke, Phil." Steve shifted beside me, obviously getting antsy, and that's when I realized that it was an actual suggestion. "You can't be seriously asking me to do that."

"You're a pretty good choice, Charlotte," said Fury, finally speaking. "He's comfortable around you and he trusts you."

"I don't know about trusting me but-"

"He trusts you enough that he'll believe you when you tell him that we aren't watching the conversation you have."

"He's not an idiot, don't you know that by now?" Even though I was opposing the idea, I knew that I would have to give in and do it. It was probably a test to see whose side I was really on. "Look, Loki and I are on pretty bad terms right now so I doubt he's going to believe a word I say."

"You're actually considering doing it?" asked Steve. I shrugged, trying not to come off as nervous as I actually was. "You can't."

"He is very dangerous," said Thor.

"Not in that room he isn't," said Natasha.

"You either do it or you don't, Charlotte. But you are my first choice for it after Clint," said Fury. So that's why Natasha had shaken her head at Steve suggesting that she do it. She knew beforehand. Clint's Black Ops training would've been perfect for interrogating Loki though.

"How should I go about doing this?" I asked, giving in.

"You don't have to interrogate him," said Steve.

"Yeah, I actually do," I said, giving him a look while gesturing at Fury with a turn of my neck. I hoped it was enough of a signal to get him to understand the trouble I would be in if I refused. "So how should I do it?"

"Well, certainly be less emotional than you usually are," said Tony.

"So you want me to play good cop/bad cop all by myself?"

"I think that sounds like a legitimate plan. Don't let him think you still care for him."

"Hell, let him think you've moved on to someone else," said Phil. I glanced over at Steve, almost unconsciously.

"I can do that," I responded, my mouth suddenly dry. "I take it that I need to find out whatever those things were."

"I would appreciate knowing what the hell they were," I heard Clint say as he emerged from the hallway. I nodded. I'm sure other questions would come to my mind once I was in there.

"Will you give me a wire?" I asked Fury and he nodded, walking away to retrieve one. Steve shook his head down at me.

"I don't think that it's a good idea for you to talk to him," he said.

"I don't much like it either but they are right. He might tell me things that he wouldn't tell any of you." Thor was rigid beside me, obviously worried about how I would handle it inside the holding room.

Fury walked back, carrying a wire and also a S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit, one of the elastic body suits that zipped up the front and had the logo on each arm. I'd never been offered one before. "Change into this and get the wire on," he said.

"Are you serious?" I asked, my mouth agape. This was a field agent's outfit. I'd only ever seen Maria Hill or other serious employees in one. Certainly, someone like me wouldn't be given one lightly.

"It'll give you an official look and will more than likely, make him nervous," said Phil. Of course, it was merely a dream.

"Of course, it's not permanent," I responded, bitterly, walking off and into the bathroom. I got changed in flash, staring at myself in the mirror longer than I should have and admiring the gray and blue and even the belt around my middle. It somehow made my body look incredibly appealing and almost sexual. Perhaps that was the reason I was being told to wear it. I wasn't a huge fan of tight clothes but I'd always admired these suits and this one seemed specially designed for me. I was determined to earn it now, at whatever cost.

I walked out after I'd adjusted my earpiece. I was hoping they would prompt me if I somehow lost my footing in the conversation. I noticed the stares I got from the Avengers, aside from Natasha who was rolling her eyes at their behavior. Thor just stared at me, as he had the time I'd been in my towel. Steve was looking at me also and that made me feel great and nervous at the same time. Tony and Clint just looked agape and stared up and down at me but before either one of them made a comment, I said, "Don't get used to the show," and then I turned to Fury and Phil. "So lemme go through this once; I'm not supposed to let him know that ya'll can see him and are monitoring the conversation, right?" They nodded. "Does that mean I should just act like it's a casual visit or something?"

"I actually think that's a pretty good idea, especially if you act like you're coming in to taunt him. Not obnoxiously, of course. If you make him mad, he won't answer you," said Phil. I nodded, fiddling with the belt on my suit.

"I guess I'll play it cool and let him do the talking."

"You'll be good at it, Kent," said Fury. "If you put your mind to this, then you will be incredibly successful and he'll tell you what we need to know."

"Or he'll play a game with me, as usual. Or he'll just assume that I'm playing a game with him, which I am."

"Or he'll injure you which is also pretty possible," said Steve. I ran my fingers through my hair and began pacing. He was right.

"Hey, I helped construct the rooms he's allowed in," began Tony, "and they are full proof against his 'magic' or whatever. He can't do a damn thing to us."

"Well, what's the plan from here?" I asked. "I interrogate him, he either answers me or he doesn't, and then what? You can't send him back to Asgard. You didn't make sure the aliens left. We don't even know what they are."

"Think a little bit right now, Kent," said Fury. "We can give him an ultimatum on that. We say he either makes those things leave or we kill him."

"You cannot kill him!" declared Thor. I shook my head at them too, showing I was on Thor's side of the argument.

"You literally can't kill him," I said, although I wasn't totally sure it wasn't possible. With his powers weakened, they could probably do quite a bit of damage to him.

"Give him the ultimatum and find out where he has the cube," said Fury and I knew the conversation was done. He began unlocking the outside handle of the door and my heartbeat quickened. The Avengers moved back and out of sight of the doorway, although Steve paused for a minute before giving in and standing back with the others. I exchanged a nervous look with him and then I opened the door to the holding room and stepped inside.

**Sorry this chapter is so short! I'm debating writing the next part in third person so I kind of wanted to separate it and also, I just haven't been able to update this week so I thought I should! **


	30. Chapter 30

**So as I said at the end of the last chapter, this first part is in third person. For whatever reason, this was probably one of the most fun chapters I've written so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As usual, I own nothing but Charlotte. Thank you so much for the feedback.**

Charlotte put her hand on the handle and heard it lock from the outside. She hoped it came off as if she was the one who'd done it. The room itself was cold, which didn't surprise her. When she turned and looked over, Loki had moved to look at her from across a horizontal table. He breathed out when he recognized that it was her. His hands were sitting on the table, cuffed, his long, pale fingers curling and uncurling on the surface. "Did you come to set me free?" he asked, attempting a smile. He honestly was surprised that she was here. Loki had assumed that it was a top priority to keep the two of them separated.

"Touché," she responded, as she moved to take the chair on the opposite side of the table from him. "But no, not this time." The smirk she gave him was more characteristic of himself than it was of her.

The Avengers shifted on the other side of the two-way window. "She's definitely making him nervous," said Coulson. Fury nodded in response. Loki kept his eyes focused on her and seemed to be searching for the reason she was there.

"Then pray tell me why you are gracing me with your presence?" Loki said. Charlotte half-smiled.

"I just wanted to talk to you," she said in response.

"I take it I am within S.H.I.E.L.D., given your choice of clothing." His green eyes focused on the slinky outfit she'd been given, with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on each arm. "It does not leave much to be desired."

"You would know." On the other side of the glass, Clint tried to hold back a laugh. Natasha rolled her eyes while Thor and Steve exchanged a look, visibly uncomfortable.

Loki flattened his hands on the table in front of him. "What do you want?"

"I already told you, I just wanna talk to you. Is that so bad?"

"As I recall, you were quite against us having a conversation earlier." She turned her head to the side and made a face while she leaned forward onto the table.

"I've changed my mind but… I'll leave if you want." She moved to get up when Loki grabbed her wrist which made her jolt. Charlotte turned back and made eye contact with him, completely forgetting her façade and the fact that others were watching them. All at once, she looked almost like a teenager.

"No, it is fine." She nodded, closing her always pouty lips, and pulled her wrist away. He clearly wanted company and it made her feel sorry for him again.

"Okay." Charlotte sat back down in front of him, this time glancing awkwardly at the window as if she could see them on the other side.

"Good job, Kent," said Fury into the mic and they saw her breathe out.

"I almost didn't fully believe all the things you were saying about him," said Natasha, "but now I have no doubt." None of them needed her to elaborate on what she meant. They knew she meant that Loki cared for Charlotte.

"Are you trying to trick me, Charlotte?" Loki's voice brought them back. She shook her head in response.

"I'm not stupid," she said but Steve saw that she'd moved her hands under the table because they were shaking. Her hands always gave her away and surely, if Steve knew that, Loki did too.

"No, you are not but you are lying. Surely, you realize that I know when anyone is lying." His green eyes were glittering and he knew he'd caught her. Charlotte was a terrible liar. She couldn't keep secrets for very long. Then again, she hadn't told anyone about him and she'd always been trustworthy.

"When have I ever betrayed your trust?" She clasped her hands together.

"Give me your word." She extended her right hand across the table to him, knowing that it might be a test. She would lie if she had to.

"You've got it." He reached forward and grasped it with both of his, the handcuffs making it necessary, he hoped. Loki desperately wanted to feel her warmth. She didn't jerk away, which surprised Natasha. His skin was blisteringly cold or at least, it had been in the back of the van.

"Pull away, Charlotte," said Clint. "Come on."

Their eyes met slowly and she pulled away almost as though she'd heard Clint. "You did not feel nervous," said Loki. She smiled at that.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your hand was not shaking." Her breath caught in her throat. She had no clue that he'd ever taken notice of that.

"How do you know my hands shake when I'm nervous?"

"You would become nervous whenever one of those… Avengers was around." She nodded slowly. She hadn't been physically close to him at any point when one of them was around while Loki had been living with her. He was incredibly observant.

"Your grip was weak," she said. "Are you hurt?" Tony almost slammed his hand against the glass.

"Don't act like you care. Come on, Charlotte," Tony said.

Loki smiled in an almost fragmented way. "The room itself is just exhausting me. Other than that, I am fine," Loki said. Charlotte leaned forward onto the table, running her hand through her dark auburn hair. Loki's eyes followed it, still oddly jealous of the color. She smirked again when she caught him doing it and he glimpsed her crooked teeth. That still bothered him. "Am I to understand that you have begun to work well with S.H.I.E.L.D. again?"

"What makes you say that? My suit or that I drove you back here?" He narrowed his eyes at her across the table. "It certainly must suck to have been kidnapped by people you're supposedly so much better than."

"They fell apart and were quite disastrous. It is not a stretch to believe that I am better than them."

"They still took you, didn't they?"

"Are you under orders to be here?" he asked, ignoring her obvious insult. He had a plan.

She laughed a little. "I wouldn't be able to talk to you privately if that was the case, now would I?"

"I suppose not but since we are on the subject, why did they make you go out there?" For once, Charlotte was the one who was unreadable.

"I volunteered. Why? Were you worried about me?" She'd moved her thumb to trace her bottom lip and she was smiling again, like she had millions of secrets that she'd never tell him.

Tony muttered behind the glass, "She's much better at this than I gave her credit for."

"I assumed that you wished to be as far away from me as possible," Loki responded, almost questioningly. She shook her head.

"I'm not scared of you," she said, leaning onto the table again. Loki slouched into his chair farther, half because of how tired the room was making him and half because he didn't want to lean forward too. "You didn't answer me. Were you worried?"

The corners of Loki's mouth turned up. "Even if I had, I was not alone." She nodded her head knowingly.

"I know you're just trying to change the subject but if we're gonna go down that road…" Her left hand was smoothing down the fabric on her leg as if it was actually wrinkled. She gulped and she was worried that Loki actually heard it. "Why do you care?" Loki tried to hide the fact that he was practically gritting his teeth together. Was she admitting it?

"She's getting under his skin," said Clint, with a sly look over in Steve's direction. He awkwardly looked away. The whole situation was becoming awkward. Steve was the one who'd had to deal with the most action today and he knew Loki had wanted him to have a bad time of it. Now it was only going to become worse and he had nothing to show for it.

"If you must know," said Loki, "I have to wonder if you are even worried about your own life." His voice sounded reprimanding, like it used to when Charlotte couldn't do something right or when she would trip.

"You think being with a _superhero _would endanger my life? I think the odds are up, especially when you consider the fact that the rest of them are my friends," said Charlotte. Loki smirked.

"That is what they wish for you to believe."

"What makes you say that?" she responded, entertaining the idea. Whatever would make him willing to talk. But Loki didn't respond. He simply gave her a look, wanting her to figure it out on her own. Loki knew that they were keeping things from her. He wondered how she would feel about the mighty Avengers if she knew that Loki was really the one on her side.

"They keep a great many things from you. Surely, you have figured that out." Clint knew that was true but of course, if Loki hadn't interrupted them, Tony would've told Charlotte everything.

"You would know everything about lying, wouldn't you? Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Things you're making up that they're supposedly keeping from me so that you can make me feel bad for you? That's extremely pathetic, Loki, even for you."

"Damn," said Clint.

"Barton, we don't need your commentary every five minutes," said Coulson.

"We are more alike than you would like to admit, Charlotte," said Loki, making his voice sound so charming that even Steve wanted to agree with him.

"How do you figure that?" she asked. "We're totally different. I'm willing to bet your cosmic cube that if I was in Asgard, I would've been the chosen heir to the throne which is completely different from your story, isn't it?" The minute the words were out of her mouth, she regretted saying them. Loki's face looked hurt and angry at the same time. Mostly, he just came off as a puppy that she had kicked. "I didn't mean that-"

"You know why I was not chosen. Indeed, you know that I never wanted the throne," Loki responded, sounding utterly pitiful. Charlotte knew that he wasn't trying to garner sympathy. It wasn't a trick and she felt terrible about it.

"That's complete bullshit," said Tony. "You know he wanted to be king." But Thor knew that Loki didn't. He'd admitted as much in the Bifrost when they confronted each other. Loki had only wanted to be Thor's equal.

Charlotte's bad cop façade was breaking and all of the Avengers knew it. "Keep it together, Kent," said Fury. "Keep going with it. He wants you to feel sorry for him."

"I'm sorry I said it," said Charlotte, side glancing at the window. She was going to apologize when it was due and Loki certainly wouldn't be willing to cooperate after that dig. "It was out before I'd even thought about it. I didn't mean that." Loki smiled darkly.

"Of course you did and even I can admit that it is true." Charlotte opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. She knew she wouldn't have become the queen of Asgard, it was meant as a fast insult to cut deep. But his response to it only made her feel worse.

"It doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry I said it." The look on her face told him that she really did feel bad about saying it.

"Well, please do not fret for me. I will get what I deserve soon enough." He began curling and uncurling his fingers on the surface of the table again, trying to focus on them rather than on the fact that Charlotte was sitting in front of him, especially when she was acting so oddly.

"I suppose you're talking about running the earth? Was that what that speech was about when you basically told people to kneel to you?" Loki smiled again.

"Obviously, that got interrupted thanks to that brutish soldier you are so fond of. The one with the shield." Charlotte started grinning. "He seemed to have it out for me more than the others, although I suppose I could have predicted that."

"You remember his name well enough, don't you, Loki?" Loki glared up from looking at the table surface, his green eyes looking as though they'd been set on fire. "And actually since we're talking about him, now's a pretty great time for you to tell me how you got a cosmic cube." She wanted to avert the conversation from Steve because oddly enough, Charlotte was beginning to think that Loki actually was jealous.

"They really do not tell you anything, do they?" said Loki, smirking. Charlotte shook her head at him, smiling.

"You won't get underneath my skin with that."

"It's kinda uncomfortable watching them," said Clint. "When she's acting like this, they almost look like siblings and it's creeping me out."

"Well, he did say they were alike," said Tony, cracking a smile.

"They have the same color eyes," said Thor, quietly making an observation. Maybe that's what had always linked Charlotte to Loki before he'd realized that they knew each other. They both had that mischievous look in their bright green eyes.

"Are you gonna answer me?" asked Charlotte, after Loki had been silent for awhile. "I guess I can figure out on my own how you somehow got one but what the hell are you doing with it? What could it possibly gain you?"

"I suppose you now know all of the things I did in Asgard while Thor was here," said Loki. She nodded in response. "It helps me. That is all you need to know about it."

"Well, what are those things that comprise your army? I'm pretty sure that Thor didn't know what they were and he has a pretty extensive knowledge of the nine realms but you knew that."

"You are close with Thor now, are you? Are you helping him as you helped me? Telling him about your world?" Charlotte just stared at him, her expression blank. "Have you warned Jane Foster that you may steal his heart as you did mine?" Loki cracked a smile at his own joke.

"Now I'm really uncomfortable," said Clint. Thor was frozen as was Steve.

"Did I steal your heart?" asked Charlotte. "If I remember correctly, you made me fall in love with you to serve your own means and then you stabbed me and let me get demeaned at my job. At least I can be certain that Thor and Steve would never do that."

"Damn straight," said Clint.

"Barton, seriously, the commentary needs to stop," said Coulson.

"That is what I wished to speak with you about," said Loki. Charlotte's already large eyes only got larger.

"That's what you wanted to talk to me about at the diner? And why you tried to take me from Stark Industries?" she asked. "What are you saying?"

"You know what I am saying to you." Her mouth opened a little wider and her hands started to shake. She immediately put them under the table but Loki had seen them. He'd gotten to her.

"Wrap it up, Kent," said Fury, "and keep it together." 'Keep it together' seemed to be the only words of encouragement that he could muster up. Charlotte wished that it had been someone else talking to her.

"Damn it," said Tony. "He's flipped the situation around on her."

"Come on, Charlotte," said Clint.

"Pull her out," said Natasha. "She's cracking. It wasn't a good idea in the first place. He wants her to abandon us."

Charlotte stared over at Loki and got it together fast. "I know what you're doing," she said, "and I'm not gonna help you."

"You clearly have not listened to anything I have said to you recently," Loki retorted.

"Sorry that I was confused by you stealing my clothes and breaking into my house among other things. Oh and we can't forget that you threw me against a wall in my office and then cut my hair off. I mean, you have such endearing qualities, I can't believe that I didn't realize your love for me sooner. Cut it out. What did you really wanna say to me?" Loki's eyes searched the room for anything to focus on and only found the window, which he honestly knew was two sided. Of course, there might not be anyone on the other side but he wasn't foolish enough to believe them when they said the mirror was just that.

Thor felt his heart pound unnaturally. It was as if Loki was looking straight at him.

Loki tried to sit up further but found that he was too exhausted to do it. Charlotte extended her arm in a knee jerk reaction when she saw him struggle but pulled it back just as fast. "You are under orders, are you not?" he asked, ignoring her previous question. If she wanted to pretend that she couldn't understand the signs he was giving her or that she didn't realize that she was in the same situation that he had been in in Asgard, then that was her issue. But her jerking away when she obviously thought she should help him completely showed what was really going on. "That is why you have been acting so strangely and speaking as if you were me."

"You were my inspiration, I must admit," she responded.

"Why did she do that? Dammit," said Tony. "The only instructions I give her, to act like she doesn't care for him, are what she doesn't care about!"

"Calm down, Stark," said Coulson. "He's not an idiot. She gave herself away very early on." Tony wanted to ask how she had done that but was distracted when their conversation struck back up.

"Why you?" asked Loki and he looked hurt. This time though, Charlotte was unsure of whether the emotion in his face was meant to make her feel bad. She didn't like that he could do that.

She sighed. "I should think that it would be pretty obvious. To torture me some more… as if you haven't done your job there." She laughed a little, almost sadistically.

"Is that true or is that another lie?"

"Hey, I haven't exactly lied to you."

"You gave me your word."

"Are you trying to tell me that that wasn't some sort of test?" When he only responded with a look that clearly revealed that it was one, Charlotte said, "Honestly, after all of the lies you've told me, don't you think you deserve it?"

"Perhaps I do." His face had turned angry and she didn't exactly blame him.

"Listen, Loki, if there's one thing you need to go on and learn about Midgard, it's that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." She leaned back in her chair and smiled again.

"Charlotte is like my spirit animal right now with these comebacks," said Clint.

"Barton-" Coulson began.

"Sorry sir."

"Look, I didn't have much of a choice in being here and doing this," said Charlotte. "Believe me, if I could have, I would've avoided this at all costs. But if you just talk to me, both of us can be happier and I'll leave you alone." Loki gave her another pitiful look. He didn't want her to leave him alone and he wished he could tell her that.

"I do not have to reveal anything to you that I do not wish," said Loki.

"I'm not the one who's a prisoner," she replied. "Being on my good side is something you ought to strive for right now."

"You may ask me what you want but that certainly does not mean that I will answer you." She sighed and decided to take whatever she could get from him.

"That's fair enough. Where is the cube?" Loki smirked while playing with his handcuffs. "I knew I wouldn't get an answer on that but can't you throw me a bone or something?"

"As I told you, it helps me."

"With your army?" He nodded. "Are you saying it like… created them?"

He shrugged a little, which was a pretty human gesture for someone so ethereal. "I cannot tell you all of my secrets."

"I'll take that as a yes. And it explains why Thor couldn't recognize them."

"Thor is sometimes too blind to realize that something is sitting in front of him. I would not count on him as a defining factor in your analysis of the situation." Charlotte didn't like his demeaning attitude towards Thor, especially now that she knew him.

"He's your brother and I definitely trust him more than I trust you."

"He is not my brother. You know that," said Loki, his voice full of malice. Thor flinched on the other side of the glass.

"Yes, he is," she said, putting her foot down. Thor would always be Loki's brother. She and Thor knew that. It was a shame that Loki didn't. "But come on, you can own up to this. You're not gonna be able to just waltz out of here. What could you possibly lose for being honest with me right now?"

"You seem to be fairly confident that I cannot leave. I am a god to you. Recalibrate your statistics." Charlotte rolled her eyes at him, even though it was true.

"You're not in a position to negotiate with me and even if you were, I'm not in a position to help you. I'm not playing any games with you anymore. Be straight up with me."

"I believe you ought to speak with your supposed friends about being 'straight up' with you before you approach me."

"Well, you seem to know what they're hiding. Why don't you just tell me?" She leaned forward onto the table, crossing her arms.

"Damn," said Tony. He wanted Loki done for already. He had thrown him out of a window. Didn't anyone seem to care about that? Clearly, Charlotte was willing to look at both sides of the argument when there should only be one. The Avengers were the good guys and Loki was evil. What didn't she understand about that?

"I have been trying to but you do not quite seem to understand me. You do not believe me and I do not quite blame you. Maybe when someone else tells you, you will understand. As I said, you and I are not so different from each other. When you realize that, many things could change."

"When you say that we're not different, are you implying that I hate you because you hate yourself? If so, then you're right. We've got quite a bit in common."

"You do not hate me, Charlotte. You loved me for a kindness I never did you and now many will revile me for what may be my finest act."

"A kindness you never did me? Your finest act? What the hell are you going on about? You know, I used to think the way you spoke was kinda endearing but now it's just really obnoxious. No offense to Thor." Loki didn't respond. "I feel like I'm walking around in circles here."

"I cannot tell you anything else. You will see soon enough what we will do." He hadn't caught himself before he'd said it. In truth, it was a partnership that would be short-lived. Loki was the one who deserved to be a supreme ruler and deserved to have power.

"'We?' You're not working alone. Who is it? Do I know who it is?" she demanded. Loki pressed his lips together and only looked at her with an expressionless face. "Fine. I'm gonna leave. But the next person who comes to talk to you will not be as nice as I am. I'm gonna tell you straight. You either take you and your new ally and your army of aliens and get out of here or they will kill you. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm saying this because it's true. So you better learn to cooperate." She stood up and pressed her pouty lips together. Loki knew she said it because she was concerned for him.

But then she did another thing that surprised him. Instead of walking to the door and leaving, she walked towards him. He looked up at her questioningly and Charlotte helped him sit up straighter. "Are you hungry or anything?"

"I am fine," he responded. Oddly enough, Charlotte was still treating him as though he was her child. "Thank you for coming to speak with me." She smiled.

"Yeah, whatever," she responded and walked over to the door, hearing it unlock.

-**Charlotte**-

I walked out and felt more confused than I had before I'd walked in. I'd gotten the information they wanted out of him or at least, I thought it was the information they wanted. But judging by the looks on everyone's faces, I'd either done a wonderful job or an incredibly shitty one. Steve looked red in the face and I automatically felt bad for him. I hadn't meant for him to come up so much in conversation. I also hadn't meant to use him to antagonize Loki.

"I'm sorry?" I said, with a question in my voice. I didn't know if it needed to be said.

"You got some information out of him and more than I thought we'd get," said Fury. "I suppose that's worth something."

"I gave myself away pretty early on, didn't I?" I asked, wondering what it was. I knew that when I'd faltered and reached for him, my mask had broken. I hadn't wanted to do anything of the sort because it would alert Loki and I was also worried about how they would take it.

"You asked him if he was hurt," said Phil. I closed my eyes and nodded. It had been my one concern before I went in there; how the chambers were affecting him. I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't feeling 100% and sometimes when he was talking, he didn't sound quite normal. Although, obviously, he'd felt well enough to have some pretty witty retorts to everything I said.

"I apologize then. I just- I dunno. I could just tell how exhausted he was. And it was just instinctual to reach for him like that. I- I couldn't control it."

"You did get information. That's the important thing." With that, Fury and Phil walked off to talk about main plans that now included the things Loki had said.

"Well, you could've controlled what you did at the end," said Natasha as they left. I bit my lower lip. Yes, I could have controlled that but it had been the right thing to do.

"I would have done the same," said Thor.

"Yeah, well, we know where you stand on it," said Tony.

"Hey!" I said to Tony. "Don't be like that! He's his brother!"

"Not anymore, he's not. Can the two of you just decide what side you're on and give the rest of us a break from having to look over our shoulders?" I didn't know what had set Tony off but it was clearly not going to go over well. Thor still had Mjolnir and I noticed that Tony was carrying his briefcase.

"You better back off," I said.

"Didn't he tell you?" said Tony. "Thor is the reason everything fell apart. He set his eyes on Loki and faltered, just like you did in there."

"We still got him, didn't we?" said Steve.

"Okay, Mr. Patriotic, you've gotta look on the bright side of things. You were our _leader_ and everything was a disaster."

"That wasn't his fault," said Clint. "Nobody was acting like we were a team."

"As far as I'm concerned, we aren't one. Especially not as long as some of us have sympathy for the enemy."

"That is enough," said Thor, his voice a terror of rage, as he moved past me towards Tony. I could feel power emanating off of Mjolnir in waves. I stood back when he gave me a look and I got a pretty bad feeling about it. I saw Tony crack open a clip on the top of the briefcase. "You will not speak to me that way. I am the heir to the throne of Asgard."

"Yeah, but you're not king." Thor twisted the handle of Mjolnir in his hand.

"Tony, that's a really bad thing to say," I said. I knew the way Thor was and even the way he had been, thanks to Loki. Even though his last visit to Earth had helped humble him, he still had incredible pride. Besides, he probably still thought of mortals as lesser beings.

"Stay out of this, Charlotte," said Tony. "Stop whoring yourself out to Asgardians and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Hey!" said Steve.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot… and stop catering to the 90 year old virgin."

"You better shut your mouth!" I said. It seemed like the four of us had gathered together in some sort of impromptu huddle of hatred.

"Do not speak to her that way," said Thor, moving the hammer so that the top of it faced Tony.

"You gonna let him stand up for her, Steve?" asked Tony. "I figured you'd be more possessive since you were here fir-" Tony didn't get to finish because Steve had punched him in face, knocking Tony to the side. I jolted backwards in shock.

"Hell yes!" said Clint. "Can you take it outside so I can watch the three of you fight to the death?" I turned and made a face. "Sorry, the four of you!"

"Can't you be quiet for once?" said Natasha.

"Whoa, okay, we all need to cool off," I said, as Tony stood back up, pressing his hand to his jaw. I tried not to smile because Tony had really deserved the hit. "The testosterone in this room right now…"

"Tell me about it," said Natasha.

"I don't like you," Tony said to Steve.

"Hey, I get it, we all hate each other and that's fine but it's not getting anything done," I said.

"Keep your boyfriend on a leash and then I'll be fine."

"Stop being an asshole and maybe you won't get punched in the face! 'Cause the next person that's hitting ya is gonna be me!"

"Why don't you just stay out of this, Charlotte?"

"You're the one who brought me into it!"

"Well, your sexual frustration regarding Loki isn't exactly adding to group morale."

"Damn," I heard Clint say. I'm sure they all saw my face turn angry because when I went to make a move, Steve had moved his arm to block me.

"He has to die," said Natasha, her and Clint finally moving to join the four of us.

"There are other ways," said Thor. "He will take the deal." I shook my head.

"No, he won't. I could tell," I said.

"I have to agree with everyone else," said Steve, "he has to go."

"What?" I asked, wondering if this was even happening. Out of everyone, I would've been willing to bet money that Steve would side with me and Thor. It just wasn't in his character to be like that. He would only go against someone terrible… and then it hit me that he had to think that Loki was. Thor and I truly were alone.

Thor's face showed that he had been thinking the same thing I had been. "You people are so petty," he said. "Loki can be talked down from this."

"You have no proof of that," said Steve. "Neither of the two of you do."

"I don't think the two of them should be working with us. They're complete liabilities. Fury was actually right about that," asserted Tony. My jaw dropped open as I stared between the two of them.

"I cannot believe this!" I shrieked, throwing my hands up in the air. "What more proof do you need from me to show that I am on your side, Tony? Please tell me what I can do because I am freaking clueless on how to impress anyone here!"

"I do not have to help you," said Thor. "Neither of us do and the more that I hear you speak, the less I wish to." With that, he grabbed my arm and walked me away from the rest of them.

"We can't just leave!" I said. "I'd still like to give them a piece of my mind!" That's when I heard something from behind us and I would've known the sound anywhere; it was the clanking of Tony suiting up. I didn't have time to think before Thor pushed me and I fell on the floor. I turned just in time to see him take a blast from one of Tony's rays, deflecting it from a quick use of Mjolnir as a shield. When I moved to stand up, Thor moved his hand to signal for me to stay back and he walked towards Steve and Tony. I saw Steve shake his head at me when I tried to walk towards them and I stopped.

They were definitely going to take this outside.


	31. Chapter 31

The next thing I knew, I was in Central Park in the middle of the night, trying to babysit the overgrown testosterone-filled teenagers with toys (or at least, that's the way they were beginning to feel to me). "Natasha's helping Clint with his leg and this is kind of your fault anyway," is what I basically heard when I informed Phil that Thor, Steve, and Tony had walked out of the facility after exchanging blows. He'd put finding them in my care and handed me a taser gun, as if that could take down a man in an iron suit, a god with an all powerful hammer, and a guy who'd taken a super soldier serum who also had an invincible shield.

Nevertheless, here I was, standing on one of the bridges over the lake near the wooded area and feeling like screaming because it was dark and cold and I was sort of lost. I wasn't from New York and I generally didn't come near Central Park, mostly because I heard from the Avengers 24/7 about how dangerous it was at night and night was genuinely the only time I could've come. Unfortunately, now that warning was beginning to scare me and I had my taser gun out and ready to fire at anything that came my way.

I heard a bang from over in the woods and I sighed. Why did they have to be in the forest? Why? I mean, they could've killed each other in the gyms. If I was lucky, one massive blast would give them all amnesia and they'd forget about their egos. I paused for a moment thinking about wonderful that would be. Thor would forget that he adored Loki, Tony would forget that he was a jerk, and Steve would forget… Well, he would just forget.

Then I heard a yelp that I recognized to come from Thor and I heard a thump not too far away from me. "I have got to get a raise for this," I said as I crossed into the wooded area. "Thor!" I heard him groan and I moved to where his voice was coming from. When I saw him, he was on the ground and I grabbed his arm, attempting to help him up. "What happened? Where are they?"

"He kicked me," Thor responded. I assumed he meant Tony had. "Charlotte, I believe that you should leave."

"You know what, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble when we get back," I said. "All of you are!" I raised my voice. "Stop acting like meatheads and let's go home and talk it out! If one of you kills the other, I'm not vouching for ya! Get your asses over here now!"

"Charlotte-" he began as he got up slowly.

"I _will _taze you, Thor." I heard something in the trees and I breathed a sigh of relief until Thor moved me behind him and threw Mjolnir up to hit Tony. "Oh my God!" I screeched. Tony had dodged it and Mjolnir returned to Thor's hand. I jumped when Thor caught it before it crashed into me.

"Charlotte, get back!" Thor said again and this time I listened, hesitantly stepping backwards, trying not to fall over roots. Once I was back on the path, I saw Tony land in front of Thor and then Steve finally emerged with his cowl on and holding his shield (lord, did I hate that cowl). I noticed that they were all standing pretty far away from each other. They all commenced into yelling until Tony caught sight of me and he finally shut up. He began to walk towards me and I wasn't sure that he wasn't angry with me.

As I focused in on Tony, I didn't fully hear what Steve said. All I understood of the next few moments was that he had utterly provoked Thor. I heard Thor's booming voice say, "You have no idea who you are dealing with," obviously taking a page from my speech book and then I saw him run and jump all at once.

"Thor, no!" I screamed in desperation as I saw Steve prepare to take the blow, the shield protecting him. Thor was putting all of his weight into Mjolnir and I barely had the time to attempt to move closer to them when the crash of Mjolnir's Asgardian metal against Steve's vibranium shield knocked us back. The metals reacted against one another in such a way that it almost gave off a force field. Tony was brushed off his feet, falling back into the forest. Thor blasted back in my direction. I screamed as I took the hardest blow from it, the force knocking me back into the lake near the woods. I plunged into the freezing cold water and my back hit the bottom of the relatively shallow lake. Unfortunately, I dropped the taser gun but I didn't care. I forced myself up, even though the wind had been knocked out of me and waded to the edge of the lake and pulled myself out. I laid myself flat out on the path and started coughing.

When I turned to the side, I saw that Thor was moving to get up, leaving his hammer beside him. Tony emerged from the woods around the same time, with his mask off, looking better off than I'm sure I did. Then Steve finally came out, pushing the cowl back, messing up his usually tidy hair and his shield showing more than a few new scratches. I turned my head back and just stared straight up. The Avengers Initiative was officially the worst idea S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever had.

I coughed again and hit myself on the chest, spitting out lake water that I hadn't realized I'd taken in. "Dammit, that was probably polluted," I said, resting my head against the cement, trying hard not to shiver.

"What the hell was that?" asked Tony. "And when did you get here?" When I realized the second question was directed at me, I only turned my head.

"Charlotte, I had no idea-" began Steve but I raised my hand to stop him from apologizing. He clearly had had no idea I was here, otherwise he wouldn't have risked setting Thor off. He moved towards me anyway, helping me prop myself up. "Are you hurt?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so. Just had the wind knocked out of me," I said, watching my dripping wet hair make lines down the front of his suit. They'd really gotten dirty out here. "Are you?"

"I'll live," he responded.

"Well, seriously, what the hell happened?" demanded Tony. "What was that light and what was that blast?" I coughed again and Steve's grip on my right arm tightened, which I enjoyed, even though I would've hated to admit it.

"My hammer," said Thor. "It was my hammer."

"And the shield," I said, trying to lean forward on my own, staring at it where Steve had placed it beside him.

"I don't get it," said Tony.

"It was the metals," I responded. "They're both unnatural so they reacted. I should have predicted that." Common sense should've told me that, given how rare and precious vibranium is. It is virtually indestructible, as is Thor's hammer.

"I take it that it threw you into the lake?"

"I hit the bottom," I replied, moving to get up and hearing my back crack from it. "That's probably not a good sign."

"You hit the bottom?" asked Thor. I only nodded as Steve helped me stand up. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine." I tried not to retort that I'd hit bottom before figuratively and gotten better. It would've been too cheesy for the situation. "Ya'll need a time out. Please put aside the differences and let's go back to the facility. I'm pretty sure that my hair is turning into ice sickles." I crossed my arms across my chest and watched as they all exchanged a look. "Seriously?"

"Fine," said Tony. "You want a lift back?"

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I'll fly you back to the facility." I shook my head fervently.

"I've been in the air too much already tonight but thanks for the offer."

"Well, listen, I'm- I feel- I am- Look, this is really hard for me to say but they're right," Tony said, nodding to Steve and Thor. "I said some pretty harsh things to you that weren't totally deserved and I'm-"

"You're sorry, I get it. Thank you for apologizing."

"You don't 'accept' my apology?" he asked, jokingly.

"Just make me a drink when we get back, okay?" He nodded and jetted off anyway.

I tried not to say anything for awhile as the three of us trekked back to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the middle of the night. We hadn't walked very far when I looked over at Thor and he held out his arm, draping his red cape over my shoulders even though I hadn't asked for it. "Thank you," I said.

"You were cold. It is fine," said Thor, as though it was the most natural reaction in the world to let someone be that physically close to you. Although, in truth, he'd never understood personal space. I grabbed at the seam of it and kept it pulled tightly on me. I could feel from the fabric how nicely it was made. Thor kept his hand on my shoulder, making sure that I was still fully covered. When I looked over at Steve, I reached for his hand instinctually and he accepted it. I couldn't help but notice how warm the both of them were. I didn't know if that was because I had fallen into the lake and was freezing or if I was just so used to being near someone whose skin was like ice.

"Do me a favor and don't fight each other like that again," I said, as I slid my ID card through a slot at the doors of the building. "I think all three of you probably learned a lesson today." Steve opened the door for us and when we stepped inside, they turned to me.

"Believe me, I'm never going to let us hit each other like that again," said Steve.

"Likewise," responded Thor. The blast had evidently had a pretty great effect on showing them that they needed to stop. I felt like doing a fist pump.

"Although, no guarantees on my decking Tony again," said Steve.

"Oh, I'm positive that that'll happen anyway," I responded. When we walked in, everyone was waiting on us. Bruce, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Phil, Fury, and Maria Hill were standing right inside. I smiled slightly.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Phil. I raised my hands above my head and stepped back. For once, they weren't trying to reprimand me. "Oh, don't try to sneak out of here, Kent." I stopped in my tracks. He only called me by my last name when it was something important.

"Well, I must say that three of you look like you just sang Kumbaya and said that you loved each other," said Tony. I rolled my eyes as Clint tossed me a jacket.

"Nice to see that you've cooled off, Stark," said Maria. "But anyone care to explain what the hell started it?"

"Actually, I can go through it pretty easily."

"I'd rather it wasn't you," said Phil.

"No, seriously, it all started because Charlotte's in love with Loki and Thor likes Charlotte because Charlotte loves Loki and Steve is in love with Charlotte but Steve and I actually agreed that Loki needs to go and Thor got upset and somehow, we just ended up hitting each other. To her defense though, Charlotte did try to stop it." My head was in my hands before the fifth word.

"What kind of an explanation was that?" asked Bruce.

"Hey, I made it fast and it gave everyone the necessary details."

"How was any of that necessary other than to embarrass us?" I asked, talking about myself and Steve. I kept thinking that if I ignored our emotional problem with each other, that it would somehow go away but no one was going to let that happen.

"It's not like I was lying!"

"That doesn't explain why Charlotte is soaked," said Natasha.

"Well, these geniuses," Tony said, pointing between Steve and Thor, "decided that it would be a wonderful idea for that hammer and the shield to collide."

"It created some huge blast and I was thrown back into a pond," I said.

"You really can't catch a break, can you?" said Clint. I shook my head.

"Well, I certainly hope that this got out the animosity," said Fury. "We pretty much failed earlier today because none of you were willing to work together no matter how much it was stressed to you. I'm glad someone decided it was worth it to take down Loki because otherwise, there was no point. You didn't stop the destruction, you continued it! Now the three of you endangered each other's lives and one of your coworker's."

"Weren't you going to-" I began but stopped when I saw his face. I was going to be a smartass and ask if he still didn't plan on expending me but there was probably no point in angering him further.

"Thor was the only one who knew that she was even there," said Tony. "He still threw that damn hammer at me while she was watching."

"Way to throw him under the bus," said Clint.

"I'm just saying that we basically had no clue that there was anyone around, let alone that it was Charlotte. But I stopped arguing the minute I saw her and then Thor brought that hammer down on Steve. By the way, bro, you've got a mean swing." Tony tapped Thor on the arm in an encouraging way but Thor only gave him a look of confusion.

"Please don't tell me that you just called him 'bro,'" I said.

"Nothing pleases you, does it?"

"Well, what caused it?" asked Clint. "I mean, specifically Thor and Steve."

"We'd been provoking each other all night," said Steve, "and I went pretty far."

"You're damn straight you did!" said Tony.

"Stark, everything does not revolve around you," said Phil, "regardless of what you may believe."

"He said I was _half_ the man my father was. _Half_."

"What he said to me was about Loki," said Thor. I pushed my lips together, trying not to turn and give Steve a strange look. All three of them had been pushed to the edge and Tony wasn't absolved of the things he'd said either. But I should've figured that Steve had said something regarding Loki. That was one of the only things that could genuinely set Thor off. I figured it was a situation of "no one can hurt my brother but me."

"I think you all need to cool off and put this behind you. Nothing can be achieved when you're all acting like idiots," said Fury. I saw Maria nodding behind him. I crossed my arms, still standing with Thor and Steve. I was already done with this forced meeting. "Don't make that face, Kent. As we understand it, the root of the problem came down to you."

"How do you figure that? Because I said I wasn't gonna keep getting harassed about Loki? Because I have to continue trying to prove myself to ya'll? No, that's not even fair," I responded. "I certainly didn't encourage them to start hitting each other!"

"I don't even remember how it started," said Clint.

"I threw the first punch," said Steve, owning up to it.

"Yeah, but that was totally deserved." Tony gave Clint a look.

"Whose side are you even on?" he asked.

"Hey, you're the one who shot one of your damn beams at Thor," I said, "and almost hit me in the process."

"He provoked me."

"I'm sure," said Phil, rolling his eyes. "But speaking of Loki, he's secure, as I'm sure you all wanted to hear." I raised my eyebrows. They must've changed where they were keeping him or something.

"Did you interrogate him anymore?" asked Tony. Fury nodded. My lips parted and I glanced up at Thor who looked back at me.

"He didn't say anything else. Our main concern was the person he was working with now that we understand that the cube helped him with the army." We all nodded or acknowledged it in some way. "You're all free to go." I turned at the first sign of being able to leave. We all rode up in the elevator together, most everyone still in their costume and me still in the S.H.I.E.L.D. bodysuit. I noticed that Clint was babying his leg but I decided I'd ask him later how it was doing. Steve and I were constantly brushing against each other and I tried to avoid eye contact with him. We were no doubt going to have a conversation about our "feelings" later. We couldn't avoid it after all of the stuff that was said today. I guess I could no longer avoid it.

Once inside the penthouse, I grabbed the shower after hearing Thor refer to Jarvis as "House." Whenever Jarvis said anything, Thor had taken to calling it "House." It fed Tony up which was the main reason I didn't explain it to Thor.

Standing in the shower was going to buy me some much needed time to think. I'd spoken with Loki who had basically admitted having real feelings for me. I kind of wishfully believed it, recognizing that a lot of the time he wasn't faking emotions. But my head was telling me that I shouldn't fall for it. This was the one time he probably actually needed me to break him out and he was using my main sympathy for him.

Then of course, I had the things going on with Steve. Steve and I had basically been best friends for over a year. He trusted me and I trusted him. He was probably the only well-functioning relationship I had left, unless I counted my growing friendship with Thor. I put my hands over my face and groaned. Steve was really too good for me. That was his main issue. I didn't deserve him… but we really ought to talk it out. I just knew that I would mess that conversation up. I would talk too much and say the wrong thing and then he'd get awkward and not say anything at all. It would be genuinely painful. But mostly, I didn't want to have this conversation because I cared for Steve and I had no clue what to do about it. I couldn't just ask him out at a time like this. Did I even want to ask him out? Gosh, that's really weird to think about. Besides, things were so messed up with Loki that I couldn't deal. I am emotionally damaged and that's putting it pretty lightly. It was amazing that I hadn't gone insane today what with being told to talk to Loki and then almost getting shot at by Tony as well as getting thrown into a pond in Central Park.

I also knew deep down that I was totally right when I warned them that if Loki was kidnapped, it was because he'd wanted them to. I'd said basically all I could say on that without seeming like I was insane. But when he took down the facility from the inside, which was more than likely his goal, I would be the one who was prepared. If I warned the Avengers too, some of them might listen to me. That's all I wanted.

The benefit to today was that I thought maybe everyone had taken to kind of trusting me again. Obviously, I'd faltered a little but if they didn't expect that, then they clearly didn't know me very well. But Fury had allowed me to talk to him. I don't care if it was a test of my loyalty to the company or whatever it was. He had allowed me to talk to Loki at all and that was a true blue miracle if nothing else was.

I groaned as I got out of the shower, my back feeling one hundred percent better since I'd been thrown into the pond. As I got dried off and got into a new pair of clothes, I tried to give myself some sort of pep talk. I had to talk to Steve. There was no way around it, was there? I mean, it needed to happen in a point of downtime and it needed to happen because clearly, stuff was going on within the group that I could prevent. When I walked out of the bathroom, still totally conflicted and without any plan of speech, I heard a huge commotion going on downstairs.

I walked to the bannister and looked down. I swear, they were having some sort of party because there was music going, no doubt picked out by Tony. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I still had no clue what they were doing other than that most of the Avengers were huddled together in the center of the living room. As Bruce was the only one not among them, he was the one I approached. "What the heck's going on?" I asked.

"Tony has dared everyone to try to lift Thor's hammer," Bruce responded, obviously feeling that he was above doing it. I started smiling. At least they weren't hitting each other. "Including himself."

They all moved back at that point and revealed Tony heaving away, trying desperately to pull Mjolnir off the ground. Clint was laughing as was everyone else. "Just give… me… a damn… minute," said Tony between forces.

"Give it up," said Steve, laughing.

"Looks like you won't possess the power of Thor!" said Clint.

"I'd like to see both of you try!" said Tony. "I totally moved it an inch or two."

"I doubt that," said Natasha. Clint pushed Tony away from it and grabbed the handle. He immediately started heaving away at it, already breaking a sweat. This time it was Tony's turn to laugh.

"Bruce, come on," said Tony. "The next time you Hulk out, you are totally trying this. You could do it." Bruce only rolled his eyes in response. "Whatever. Come on, Steve, you try it." Steve shook his head. "No, come on, not you too!"

"There's no point. It doesn't like anyone but Thor," said Steve.

"You don't know that!"

"I know it doesn't like you," said Clint, laughing again. Thor was just standing back, watching everyone and chuckling to himself. He had a weapon that no one but himself would ever be able to use.

"Come on, Charlotte," said Tony, finally turning to me. "You try it." I shook my head. I wouldn't be deemed worthy if only because of my association with Loki. I know that Loki had tried to pick it up before, desperately, and that it hadn't shown even a miniscule idea of moving. The thing basically had its own mind. "Either you do this or you're the one starting off karaoke."

"What the heck has gotten into everyone?" I said, laughing. They were actually all getting along. And a karaoke night? I sing worse than I drive.

"Don't try to change the subject."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes and walking forward. I certainly wasn't going to start off karaoke. Mjolnir was on the ground in front of me, almost pulsing with power. I wondered if anyone else could feel that but me. When I reached forward and wrapped my fingers around the handle, I thought for certain that everything went quiet. Its power raced up my arm and seemingly filled my body with inconceivable warmth and light, making me feel as though I'd been too cold. It's pulsing on the ground only increased.

"Pull it!" said Clint, encouragingly, bringing me back into the conversation. I let go of the hammer immediately and shook my head.

"It was… too much for me," I responded.

"What do you mean? You didn't even try," said Tony.

"Didn't you feel it, though? It was a lot of power and it was really warm." Tony shook his head.

"I didn't feel anything." I saw Clint shake his head as well. He hadn't felt anything either. "You can pick it up, that's why! Do it again, Charlotte." I reached for the handle again but this time the power stayed contained within the hammer and when I attempted to pull it, it resisted.

"There was nothing that time. You must've scared it, Tony," I said, playing it off. Thor only smiled at me.

"Well, damn, we've all tried it except Bruce and Steve and they're being spoil-sports," said Tony. "I guess now it's time for spin-the-bottle."

"There's only two women," said Natasha. Tony only raised his eyebrows in response. "No."

"A no from me too," I said.

"The two of you are no fun," said Tony. As he commenced into some kind of bro-talk with Clint and the others got distracted with it, I followed Thor into the kitchen. I forgot he hadn't eaten his sixth feast for the day.

"Mjolnir must have liked you," he said, as he started rummaging through cabinets.

"Evidently not since I couldn't move it," I responded.

"You did not start out wanting to move it and I believe it recognized that. My hammer is wanted for its power quite consistently. It is because you have no desire for power."

"Does it really work that way?" I asked, intensely flattered. My link with Asgard was only growing stronger by the day.

"You would have to ask my father but if I had to make an estimate, I would guess that it sees in you what I do." I smiled.

"I thought it wouldn't do anything simply because of my association with Loki."

"You and he are a great deal alike in all of the good ways but no one at all should judge you for the mistakes he has made. I certainly do not."

"Thank you," I responded, again entirely too grateful for Thor being my friend. "But about what he said today, about me and you… I don't know where he would get that from… It's not the first time I've heard it… I just wanna apologize to you about it." I had been thinking all day of the things Loki had said when I was talking to him; what he said about Thor and I had been a recurring thought.

"There is nothing to apologize for." I nodded. One much-needed conversation down, one to go.

**Yeah, okay, so I know that Central Park was a cop-out place to put it but their standoff in the trailer is one of my favorite parts. Haha, I really don't know how this chapter turned out. As of late, everything I've been writing has been so much fun for me and it's only going to increase. Oh, I better stop before I give too much away! **


	32. Chapter 32

**Okay, so this chapter… I like it but I dunno. I hope it's something ya'll will like. Because the next chapter is going to probably be pretty action-packed. But anyway, I hope you like this chapter. It was rather tedious for me to get through just because I had so much in my head for this. But as usual, I own nothing but Charlotte.**

After a while, I saw Steve go upstairs. I breathed out a sigh and forced myself off the couch, trying to convince myself that this conversation wasn't going to be nearly as painful as I was making it out to be. Thankfully, Tony had given up on trying to convince everyone to play truth-or-dare or spin-the-bottle. Once I'd gotten up off the couch, I saw Clint give me a nod. I gave him a confused look and he just made a motion, basically telling me to go upstairs. He wanted me to talk to Steve. Was it that obvious that we needed a heart-to-heart? This was already awkward. What if Clint stands outside the door, eavesdropping?

I climbed the stairs and when I entered my room, I tried to breathe slowly. I hadn't gotten any sleep, it was practically 5am, and I was about to talk to my best friend about our feelings for each other. How was I to know that working at S.H.I.E.L.D. would create so many conflicts? I didn't sign on for falling for a coworker and not accepting it for months. I didn't sign on to explain things to a god and a soldier from the forties. Yet, here I was, the ex of an international threat and the best friend of a guy who'd been frozen for seventy years.

I finally moved to stand in the threshold between Steve and I's rooms. The sooner this was over with, the sooner I could go to sleep and try to forget the fact that Loki was downstairs. I stood in the doorway a long time before I made my presence known. Steve had his back to me, trying to organize something. I noticed that the shield was leaning against one wall. He was probably glad to have it so close. Looking at him without him knowing that I was there made me feel intensely creepy but I was too nervous to say anything. Besides, I could stare at him forever and it would never get old. I heard people moving around and they must've decided to finally go to sleep.

"Oh, hey," he said, when he'd finally seen me. "You been there long?" I shook my head in response. He'd totally caught me checking him out. There was no going back from this.

"I, uh, was just trying to get my thoughts together," I responded. "I wanna talk to you but I just don't know what to say and I knew the minute I opened my mouth, I'd start rambling and we'd both be uncomfortable." He nodded, kind of pursing his lips. I ran a shaking hand through my hair. "I'm just so nervous," I said, admitting it out loud.

"I am too," Steve responded. I nodded and tried to cross my arms.

"I'm sorry about the stuff they said today. It was ridiculous, completely ridiculous, and I'm glad you decked Tony because he doesn't know anything. He just wants to humiliate everyone and it's gotten really old but I think you showed him."

"I'm really sick of him putting everyone down." I prayed that he was trying to put me out of my misery.

"You should be," I said, kind of extending an arm in agreement. "You-You really should be. He's such a jerk but he means well and I can't decide whether I hate him or love him."

"Well, I certainly think you and Clint are his favorites anyway." I nodded. "Thor and I were really mad about the way he talked to you today. He just sounded like he was Fury or something. I think that's kind of how our fight started."

"I had no idea that that's what it was about. I just assumed it was all about Loki."

"It was that too."

"I-I don't want stuff like that to happen. I want ya'll to be friends but I guess that got better, right? After tonight with Thor's hammer and all?"

"It's a lot better than it was." I nodded at him again. That was good to hear from someone who was actually an Avenger and it was no doubt going to really help with coming assignments.

"I'm… incredibly happy to hear it."

"I thought it was a good sign with everything they're letting you do now." I started smiling at that. It certainly was true.

"It feels really good but it won't last long and I know that."

"What gives you that idea?" I shrugged, predicting in my head that everything would fall apart again because of Loki. There was just no doubt in my mind that he was going to do something, even though it was actually physically impossible. His powers were subdued in the facility.

"Well, you know, my criminal record isn't exactly clean anymore and they can hold that over my head. Not that I'm expecting they would but they know how to keep me in line. But I know that and I'd kinda like to forget about it for a little while."

"That's why you went in and talked to him?"

"Sure," I responded. It was part of the reason, absolutely, but I had needed to talk to him anyway. "Was he lying to me? Is there something ya'll are hiding?"

"I'm sure there are things that only the Avengers know but he's the one that made sure that you didn't get information. That's his fault." I breathed out again and nodded. I should've known not to ask him. Tony said that I shouldn't talk to him about stuff like that. It bothered him to lie for them and it would bother me that he had lied to me. But I'd lied to everyone about some important things so I guess that murdered my credibility.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." I leaned against the doorframe and we were both silent for a minute. I guessed that we both knew what needed to be said and just didn't want to be the one to start it.

"I suppose there's something else you wanted to say?" He looked genuinely nervous and I know that I had been looking that way the entire time.

"Yes, actually, uh-there was something. I just- I'm really bad at stuff like this because like I said, I talk way too much when I get nervous and you knew that already. I don't mean to be making you uncomfortable or anything, that's not my intent. I've been trying to avoid this for a really long time, months in all actuality because I don't exactly know how to say anything. I can't voice feelings very well about anything. Usually, everything just falls out of my mouth but stuff like this is really hard for me. But then they said all that stuff today and I knew we were gonna have to talk." I was trying to force my hair out of my face while at the same time trying to make sure that it obscured my view. Steve looked almost scared to be in the same room with me, practically a deer in the headlights. I'd wanted to shut up the minute I started talking. "I know this is painful and I'm so embarrassed. Um… look, I know that you and I are pretty, um, pretty different from one another and I really like that and everything. I don't know if you do. But we, uh, we have a lot in common too. I mean, we wouldn't be good friends if that wasn't true, would we?" I swear, I started to nervously laugh somewhere in that sentence, which probably wasn't helping my already precarious situation. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really like you and you're… you're pretty fantastic and I'm in a weird position right now. I guess everyone is. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm so sorry I put you through this. I don't know. I genuinely don't even know." It felt like I'd been ripping off a band-aid but stopped halfway through the process.

"I, uh, I'm sorry but what exactly are you saying to me?" I had to admit, he did look confused. Maybe I'd dodged a bullet on this and he just spaced out when I said that I liked him. Shit, he's from the forties. He doesn't know that liking someone means _liking_ someone. Although, I really thought there had been plenty of hints on my part. Or somehow, I was a much better actress than I gave myself credit for.

"Oh, please don't make me say it out loud again." I knew I was blushing. It was something I almost never did. Blushing was not a normal thing for me. "I don't know, Steve. I have no clue what I'm trying to do right now. This was probably the worst time that I could've tried to come out with this for obvious reasons like the fact that I was brutally dumped and clearly have issues with that person and the fact that you and my other friends are working to defeat that person. It's an odd situation all around. I am honestly sorry that you had to hear me torture myself like this. But since you wanted to hear it again, I like you as more than a friend. It's why I held your hand and it's why I'd get nervous in the office when you accidentally touched me. I just-I like you." The full band-aid had been ripped off and it genuinely felt like a huge weight was off of my shoulders. Saying it out loud and finally admitting it to myself was exactly what I had needed.

"Charlotte, I-"

"It's done, I said it, it's cool. Please don't respond. I just needed to say it and I hope that they didn't make up those things they were saying about you because otherwise, I feel like a total idiot."

"No," he said, shaking his head at me. I smiled and breathed out.

"That's great," I said. "I don't know what to do about it but that's great." I noticed though that he'd switch between looking happy and looking guilty. I didn't know what that was about. It's not like I was proposing or that I even wanted him to be my boyfriend right now. I just wanted to say it and I wanted him to hear it and then maybe the both of us could take all of the teasing in stride. I wanted both of us to be able to do our jobs. "Are you okay?" He nodded and smiled down at me so I smiled again. I was beginning to really feel like I looked like an idiot. But this was the way I was during anything like this. Loki had thought my nerves were broken or something.

Steve moved toward me and my heart pounded. I swear, I'd never been this nervous in my entire life. I reached towards him on instinct, knowing that something intense was about to happen. I wondered if we were going to kiss. But there was something up, I just knew it. He hadn't said very much which, while not totally unusual, was actually pretty weird. Then I noticed the way he'd flash between emotions again; happiness and guilt. It made no sense. But my train of thought got cut off by one simple sentence.

"He loves you," Steve muttered down at me and he looked pained. I froze before I actually reached touching him, dropping my arm.

"Son of a bitch, Steve!" I heard Tony say from outside the door. I vaguely registered that we'd been eavesdropped on but I didn't care anymore.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

"Loki… he does love you. That's what no one told you." I stepped back and leaned against the doorframe again, praying that it would be able to hold me up. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Before I had the chance to respond, Jarvis came on in all of the rooms.

"There is something you all need to see," said Jarvis. I heard the TV downstairs turn on but I kept my eyes on Steve, in practical shock.

"What is it, House?" I heard Thor say from farther down the hall.

"Damn it, Thor. Jarvis is the name. Jarvis!" said Tony.

"It is imperative that you see this," Jarvis said. I heard them go down the stairs and after Steve and I exchanged a look, we went too. The minute I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, I knew that Clint and Tony had heard everything. They were staring at Steve and I like we were the aliens.

I turned my gaze to whatever was on the TV that was so important. Like before, it showed a newsfeed but for a while the footage seemed too dark to decipher anything. After all, it was 5am. It's not like New York was deserted though, it never was. That's when I saw those things on the screen; those things from earlier. Loki's alien army. Where exactly were they coming from? They were tall and blue, just like they'd been before but I still couldn't quite get a reading on their features.

"What's going on?" demanded Natasha. "He's downstairs!"

"He's not working alone," I said, remembering how he'd slipped and let that valuable piece of information out.

"Still, why would they risk that?" asked Clint. "They have to know this could get him killed."

"Are they turning on him?" asked Thor.

"I don't think so," I said. Right as I finished my sentence, the power went out and the building shook. Holy shit, I was actually right about Loki.

"That son of a bitch planned this!" screamed Tony. "Jarvis! Turn on the generator! Jarvis!"

"He knocked out all of the power," said Steve. I heard Tony fumbling around as the building shook again.

"I'm going down," said Natasha. "Anyone seen Bruce?" Everyone said no as we realized that none of us had seen Bruce in a couple of hours. I heard Natasha run and grab the door to the stairs that was hidden right beside our elevator entrance. I heard someone follow her and I knew it was Clint.

"Let's pair the rest of us off," said Steve. I knew he could see better in the dark than I could and I reached my hand out to find him. I grabbed his arm. Then I heard Tony stumble towards Thor, sadly realizing that there were only four of us left.

"I'll get my suit and we'll meet you down there!" said Tony. "And Charlotte, I'm sorry." I didn't have the chance to respond as Steve and I made it to the stairwell and began running down. The building shook again, making me trip and I grabbed the railing fast. This time, Steve grabbed my arm and when we'd made it to the bottom, I didn't need light to know that the facility was being ruined. I heard something shatter and I jumped.

"Come on, I've got you," I heard Steve say and I decided I'd just let him guide me. I appreciated how in control he was during situations like this. I just wanted to fall apart, along with my nerves. Then I recognized that we were in one of the weapons' rooms. He let go of my arm and I heard him doing something, no doubt getting himself a gun. "Charlotte?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, realizing he needed to be able to find out where I was. When he got back to me, he gave me a handgun. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Can you use it?"

"I-I don't know."

"You can. We're going to have to split up."

"What? Please don't leave me alone. I can't do anything!"

"Charlotte, we _have _to split up and you should stay hidden. Keep moving but whatever you do, try not to make yourself be seen." I heard a backup generator start working and minimal lights turned on.

"I don't understand what's going on!" I said. The building shook again and Steve pulled me towards him and hugged me close.

"Stay hidden. In fact, you should find Thor and stay hidden." I nodded and then pulled away.

"Be careful," was all I was able to muster up. Then I started creeping through the still mostly dark areas, after stuffing the handgun down the front of my pants. I had predicted that Loki would do something but how in the hell had he gotten out of those rooms? They minimized not only his magical ability but he'd said they exhausted him physically too. He had needed help. I wondered if his new ally had somehow made it into the building. Actually, that was impossible too. You had to be a verified employee to get access into the facility itself. S.H.I.E.L.D. had more protection protocols than any other government agency. This guy he was working with had to be fantastic in order to not alert us.

I ducked into a hallway quickly, desperately wanting to find Thor. I knew I couldn't have stayed in the apartment because it would've been too easy to get to. Steve was right; moving between areas was probably my best bet at staying safe. But it's not like I could leave the building once I found Thor. Those aliens were attacking the city. I heard a loud boom and started moving faster. I would have been a lot happier if I wasn't on my own.

This was an incredibly well-executed attack, I had to admit. Loki had managed to keep all of the Avengers within the building while his "army" took out some of the city. I only hoped that they'd be able to do something in time before S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed and Manhattan with it. I'd seen those blue lasers or whatever they were that the aliens could use. It tore buildings up and flipped cars over. It was also an admirable time. A lot of people were asleep and would be taken by surprise at this, just like we were. We'd been sitting ducks.

Finally, I turned a corner to dart into an office room but pulled myself back before I'd been seen. Fury was there as was Tony and Loki was standing in front of them. He looked ten times better than he had when I'd last seen him and he had that spear with him, a blue light glowing at the end echoing his wants and emotions. Neither of the two of them seemed to want to approach him and I knew that he wouldn't just be thrown back into a holding room. Loki was going to get out of here.

All of a sudden, I felt someone put their hand over my mouth and pull me back. I moved to elbow them when I recognized that the arm belonged to Thor. He dropped it when he realized that I wasn't going to say anything and the two of us just stared into the office while hiding in the shadows.

The sun was coming up and it was lighting up all of their faces. I began to feel almost physically sick as the whole night played through my head and knowing what was going on now and how there was no way for me to stop it. Thor kept my back against his chest, ready to take me and run at the minute the situation looked precarious.

"How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" asked Loki, his melodic voice sounding charming even when he was insulting every one of us.

"You have made me very desperate," said Fury. My heart pounded. This was only beginning. This was genuinely only the start of our conflict with the god of mischief. I put my hand back and rested it on Thor's arm. I didn't want to see any more of this and who knows how long they had been talking? The building shook again and I fell against Thor right as he moved for us to take flight.

We started running towards the meeting room, which was the area we were supposed to meet at should we get separated. I mentally screamed at myself for wearing only flip-flops (they were my bedroom shoes but also practical). As we went inside the meeting room, I noticed that Thor and I were alone. No one else was here. The final generator started running and all of the lights became brighter. "Where is everyone?" asked Thor. I only shook my head in response. I had a million thoughts going through my mind.

As I heard a huge boom, I turned to look at Thor. "Is that-" I began and he only nodded before running across the room and tackling me to the ground. I screamed as the wall to the meeting room fell in, with the Hulk running through and Natasha not far behind him. Thor stood up, pulling me with him, not caring about how harsh he was being on my arms. "Thor, we need to get out of here! You and I have to hide!"

"There is no hiding," I heard a voice say before the lights in our hallway darkened. I knew the voice belonged to Loki and evidently, so did Thor because he pulled me closer to him than I had any right to be. It didn't matter. I heard a clank as Mjolnir hit the floor and a wave of energy floated off of it and I was yanked from Thor's arms.

"Thor!" I screamed. "Thor!"

"Let her go!" I heard Thor yell.

"Thor! Please, let him go! Thor!" We were dragged away from each other and I continued to yell, trying to get any of the Avengers to help us. I felt myself get pushed inside something, falling to my knees. The lights came back the minute I hit the ground. When I looked up, I saw that Thor was with me. He immediately dropped in front of me and put his hands to my face.

"Are you alright?" he asked. I put my hand on his forearm in response.

"What's going on?" I asked. "What happened to you? Did you see him?" Thor shook his head. When I looked around, I noticed we were in one of the holding rooms; one of the ones that were all glass. There were no tables in these; in fact, there was no furniture of any kind. They were temporary rooms between interrogations. "Oh my God, he locked us in a holding room. Why did he do that? Damn him." I pushed away from Thor, walking to the back door. There was no handle on the inside. I couldn't shoot it off. "Damn it, you son of a bitch!" I screamed, pushing against the door. I gave up on that and started banging on it with my arm. "Clint! Tony! Steve!" I moved back, trying to gage where the cameras in here might be focused. "There's no way out. We are stuck here until this is over." When I turned to look at Thor, his face made me pause. Loki had done this to keep us out of the way.

"You warned that he would do something," said Thor. "I wish they had listened to you."

"I'm so sorry, Thor. I really am."

"Why are you apologizing? He did this to keep you safe. You know that, do you not?"

"Yeah, now I know that." My mind flashed back to my conversation with Steve and I sank down onto the floor with my back against the wall. "He's insane, Thor. He is certifiable and yet his first concern is keeping the both of us safe?"

"I would not be so sure that he wishes to keep me safe. You heard him as I did. I am no longer his brother." I bit my bottom lip and hugged my legs closer to me. I really needed some sleep.

"I sure as hell hope you don't believe that." Then I saw something flash in front of the glass behind Thor. I rose up as did he. My eyes focused on the window as I saw Clint and Loki. My first thought was simply, _No, not Clint. Please not Clint. _But it hit me severely that I didn't want any of them near Loki.

Loki's hand curled around that staff and I saw Clint raise his bow. Thor pounded his fist against the glass, screaming, "Loki, no!" I ran and did the same.

"Clint! Clint!" I yelled. Then I paused as I saw Tony walk in as well as Phil and Steve. I heard Thor yell again but this time, in pain for Loki. "Thor, break the glass now!" I said as I saw Steve and Loki exchange a look, my protective side kicking into overdrive for the both of them.

"How?" demanded Thor.

"Use your hammer!" As Thor reached down for it, I banged against the window again, my knuckles practically going bloody.

"Charlotte, get behind me!" I moved back slowly as Loki turned his sparkling gaze on Thor and I right as he flashed away. Thor dropped Mjolnir again and I jumped at the small pulse of power that came off of it in a wave. Loki had been smiling. Not a smirk like he usually had; oddly enough, it was a real smile. He knew what was going on.

"Okay, I've got to get Agent Romanov to get the Hulk out of here," said Phil. "The rest of you need to get geared up to go out. This day is not over. Meet in the first floor meeting room. Agent Kent," he said, turning to the window, "that includes you." I nodded. Phil walked off as Clint went to work on getting Thor and I out of the holding room.

I sighed as the door finally opened. "Damn, that was harder to open than it should have been," said Clint.

"God, Clint, I thought he was gonna kill you!" I said. "Don't do stuff like that! Don't face him alone."

"Hey, I had backup." I smiled and hugged him close to me. Then I turned and saw that Tony and Steve were still here.

"What's going on? Do any of ya'll know?" I asked. "Well, first lemme ask, how much damage did Bruce do? He busted through a wall right near Thor and I before we were thrown in here."

"Certainly not as bad as it could've been," said Tony. "He was in the basement and that was always designed to be tougher. The facility should be fine. Loki didn't destroy anything we desperately needed so we're pretty ready to go out there now."

"How did the two of you end up in a holding room?" asked Steve. I shook my head.

"We got ripped away from each other but we ended up in the same place. Thor thinks he was just trying to move us out of the way," I said.

"Oh, to deal with him last and take you with him when he destroys the city?" asked Tony. "You've gotta love how that maniac's brain works."

"We don't have time for this," I said. "All of you get ready. I guess I'll just grab some clothes since the power's back on. Did any of you leave anything up there?" Steve nodded. "The shield, okay, I'll bring it." I took off past them, running fast to get on the elevator.

As soon as I was inside and had hit the button to take me to the penthouse, I started practically hyperventilating. I couldn't catch a break, could I? There was no time for anyone to explain to me what was going on with Loki and why they knew everything that I apparently didn't. Something had to convince them that Loki cared for me and on top of that, something had to convince them to make sure that I didn't know.

Wait, was this what Tony had been trying to tell me? Holy hell, they'd been under orders to not tell me. Tony had made me promise I wouldn't do anything rash with the information. They thought I'd run off with Loki and tell him everything about S.H.I.E.L.D. It was probably a pretty healthy concern at the time they made the decision to not tell me.

I thought I was going to be physically sick by the time I got off the elevator. I laced up my brown combat boots and grabbed my bomber jacket, just in case. I figured that it was a possibility for me to drive the getaway car again. After I got that done, I went into Steve's room and grabbed the shield that had been leaning against his wall. The thing was impossibly light for what I would've guessed would be it's weight and also really thin.

I got on the elevator again and rode down to the first floor, trying to keep my hands steady. I was the last person to enter the meeting room on the first floor. Natasha wasn't there and neither was Bruce but that was because they'd already exited the building. I handed Steve the shield and stood back while the others were finishing final touches on getting ready.

"Kent," I heard Fury say. When I looked over he gestured at me and I nodded. He and Phil stood with me before saying anything. Fury lowered his voice. "There's something we need you to do. I don't care how many of them try to talk you out of it but I need you. We need every hand we can get but there is something specific you can do for us." I almost smirked. The almighty Director Fury was coming to me for help.

"What's in it for me?" I asked.

"Your criminal record will be swiped," said Phil. My mouth hung open. I never in a million years thought they would put that offer on the table. Like Tony had said, that was the only leverage that they had over me.

"Are you serious?" I asked, putting my hand to my mouth. I would finally be free of this. That's all I really wanted.

"Kent, this is incredibly serious," said Fury. "No one else can do this but you."

"I wanna know what I'm agreeing to, first." The look on both of their faces made me feel like whatever it was was going to be incredibly hard on me. In fact, I think they wanted me outside.

The two of them turned away from me to talk to the others so I fell back in line with Steve and Thor. Thor was flipping the handle of Mjolnir in his hand, clearly nervous. "Okay people," said Fury, "the situation out there is precarious. There are more of those cosmic aliens today than there were earlier. War has started and we are hopelessly outgunned." Fury turned his gaze on me and I knew it. They wanted to send me out there. "All of our agents, even some of the CIA are out there. The five of you are going to have your plates full."

"The five of us?" asked Steve.

"Agent Kent has agreed to do something for us. But she doesn't know what it is yet, neither do all of you."

"I would appreciate knowing before I'm thrown to the wolves," I said.

"The general idea of the plan is to create a distraction; one that would be worth following. We want to disguise you as one of the Avengers. You know all of them personally and you've been trained. I can't spare anyone else to do it. In fact, all of the other agents are already out there. I can't spare one of the Avengers to be the distraction, especially the one I had in mind." I froze in place.

"I hardly think I'm qualified." I was also hardly trained enough to fight a cosmic army.

"Forget being qualified," said Tony, "you're not doing it!"

"I agree," said Thor. "It is much too dangerous."

"She could be killed!" said Steve.

"It's a ridiculous idea to let her out of here!" said Clint.

"In case you haven't noticed, Barton, the facility was compromised no less than an hour ago. Nowhere is safe," said Phil.

"It's her decision," said Fury. "But it would be a great help and would get some of the weight of the fight off of the rest of you. They will follow her."

"I don't understand. Follow me? Who were you thinking I'd be?" I asked. I couldn't help it. I needed that criminal record clean and I actually wanted to help the Avengers in any way I could.

"Rogers." I slowly turned my head to look at Steve who looked as scared as I felt.

"There's no way. We look nothing alike," I said, still staring at him.

"No one will see your face or your hair color," said Phil.

"What are you talking about?" asked Tony.

"Charlotte will be wearing a helmet."

"Excuse me?" I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

"You'll be on his motorcycle." That explained how I could be "followed" without being caught. My hands started to shake by my sides.

"I can't do that," I said. "I've never been on the _back _of a motorcycle before, let alone one that size and what do you want? I shoot them with one hand controlling the bike? I can barely hit a still target. I look nothing like Steve. He's at least twice my size and I'm nowhere near as tall as he is. I'm practically a hobbit compared to him!"

"Being on that motorcycle alone could kill her!" said Clint. "But we can't forget the fact that she'll be pursued by aliens that are sometimes in airships!" My breathing kept feeling shallow.

"There is no way," said Steve.

"It's an absolutely ridiculous idea!" said Tony. "Not only is it dangerous for her but one of us _has _to look for her. We could all be killed!"

"It's her call to make," said Fury. "It would really help." And my criminal record would be swiped. "What's your decision, Kent?"

I glanced between all of the guys. Steve was making a face, practically begging me to say no. Thor looked like he was about to push me out of the way and go in my place, like that was an option. Tony was shaking his head and Clint looked genuinely nervous for me. I wanted to say no just to make them feel better. But I had no choice.

"I'll do it… but I better get a raise."


	33. Chapter 33

My hands were shaking as I heard everyone go into a rage at my decision. "You'll be killed!" said Clint.

"Charlotte, you are insane!" said Tony. Thor and Steve were rigid on each side of me.

"Calm down, Stark," said Fury, "and suit up. You and Thor are a pair. I'll pair off with Rogers. Agents Coulson and Hill will be together. Barton, that means you and Kent. Keep those things off her tail. Rogers, debrief Kent." My heart was beating unnaturally fast. "Help her get ready." With that, Fury walked off, leading the six of us into another room where our costumes were.

Phil walked forward after grabbing something off a table and immediately started examining me. "We're not putting you in a full on suit. We'll give you a looser pair of jeans but keep these boots and this jacket. They look like him."

"Yeah, that's why I got them," I said in a daze, realizing that I'd bought these things because they mimicked Steve's style. They knew I had this stuff.

"You're going to be fine. Here's the shirt." I slowly took a shirt from his hands that I hadn't realized he'd been holding. I held it up. It mimicked the top of Steve's suit pretty well but looked like a shirt anyway. "Keep the jacket open so he can see the top. It's going to be cold." I nodded in a daze. It looks like buying this bomber jacket and the boots would actually come in handy.

"I don't think they'll fall for it," I said.

"You've been training with Steve," said Phil, grabbing one of my hands and making sure my nails were short enough. "You're close with him. You know how he fights and how he works. Use that to your advantage. My biggest piece of advice to you is to not worry about the stunts. If you think he'd do it, then you do it. Do you understand? Don't just ride the motorcycle. Shoot them and use your shield."

"I'm getting a shield?"

"A light version of the one he carries. It's not vibranium so it's not full-proof but you will have it and it will come in handy." I knew that it would. They'd chosen Steve as the one I'd impersonate because Loki hated Steve the most. I would definitely need a shield.

"I told you mimicking Steve would get you in a bad position!" said Tony. I laughed.

"Yeah, you did warn me!" I replied as Phil led me over to a table that had everything prepared for me. It had a pair of men's jeans laid out on it and I put the shirt beside it. "It seems to me that ya'll have been planning this for longer than you let on." I held up the jeans and they looked to be my size.

"Like I said, you're an ideal pick for him. You know him so well. But yes, this has been a backup plan that we've thinking about for a while." I nodded again, slowly. At the end of the table, I saw the helmet. Fear rose up in me like bile. To distract myself from getting sick, I picked up a roll of linen; it was something that would usually be used to brace an injury.

"What's this for?" I saw Phil go a little blank, obviously not wanting to say it.

"Your boobs!" said Tony from across the room. "Although I don't much see the point in strapping them down. Steve's got a bigger chest than you and Natasha put together." Clint started laughing. I looked down uncomfortably. I would have to do this with them in the room.

"We'll fit you with weapons when you're changed and once Rogers has told you how to manage the bike," said Phil. Then he walked off, following Fury out of the room. I sank onto the floor, my head feeling fuzzy as I pulled off my combat boots after placing the handgun Steve had gotten for me on the table. I shrugged out of the coat and got into the men's jeans. Luckily none of the others had been looking. My hands began shaking again as I picked up the linen and got out of my shirt. As I started tightly wrapping the cloth around my bra, I heard Clint.

"Ow, ow, Charlotte! You need to be changing in the locker room with us every time," he said.

"Yeah, if I wasn't about to go to my death, I'd thank you for that sleazy compliment." As I finished strapping myself down, I pinned the linen and picked up the wire from the table. When I looked up, I noticed that Steve was standing across the table from me, holding his red gloves. He definitely looked better in the stars and stripes than I would.

"They made me come over now. I, uh, I'm sorry," he said to me.

"No, you're-you're perfect. Can you tape the wire to me?" I held it out to him over the table. He nodded and I moved so that he could place the wire on my back. I felt his hands against my back and I closed my eyes to try to feel less nauseous. This was actually happening. I turned slowly to face him and soon the wire was touching my stomach and lastly, he pressed the mouthpiece to my collarbone. I'd been staring at him the whole time with a sickening intensity. He was so focused on making sure the wire was right and not looking where he shouldn't that he hadn't even noticed my staring at him.

"You're going to be alright, you know that?" he said down to me as he let go of the wire. I almost asked for him to put his hands back. They were keeping me from being too sick.

"Sure, yeah," I responded, reaching for the shirt and pulling it on. It was tight on me but as I examined it more, I noticed that it gave me the illusion of broader shoulders. With that combined with my newly flat chest, I could probably pass as a man when I was wearing the helmet. I grabbed the earpiece and put it in fast. "I'm gonna kill myself. I can't believe I agreed to this. I haven't slept in days. I've never driven a motorcycle."

"You're going to be fine. Clint will take care of you." I shook my head, mentally commanding myself to get it together.

"Is it easy to control that thing?" I asked, changing the subject.

"You have to lean with it, that will help you turn and help you keep in control. If you pull up on the handles hard enough, it can jump." My eyes widened. "Just in case," he said, obviously trying to make me feel better. "Listen, the left handle's clutch is the brake and the right makes you go faster. Turning it makes you rev it."

"So basically common sense type of control?"

"Exactly. Your only real issue may be with it's size but that's something you'll get used to."

"And shooting. I think that's gonna be a pretty terrible issue."

"It's not hard to control one-handed."

"Yeah, for you. It's size is perfect for someone like you."

"If you're that worried about it, you can stand on the boards. Keep yourself tilted towards the front but if you stand, you might have better control and it will make you look taller."

"Yeah," I responded. "I can do that." He smiled at me.

"We have to go!" said Tony. I pulled Steve close really fast and he slowly reacted to me.

"Well, if you've got any other questions, just ask," Steve said when I pulled away. I breathed out. Thank goodness we had wires and earpieces. I would be fine if I kept thinking positively.

"Will you explain everything to me when we come back?" I pursed my lips and he seemed to freeze at the question. I hadn't had the time for that about Loki to really sink in but I knew I needed answers.

"We all will," said Clint. "Steve, you've got to go. Get in the quinjet. The rest of you should be on the other side of town. Wait for our go ahead before you head out. They can't see you until they've seen Charlotte." Steve nodded and walked off with Thor and Tony after giving me a reassuring look. "Look, Charlotte, even if you're in a very precarious situation, I suggest that you play it down."

"Are you worried about him?" I asked. Clint nodded.

"I'll be on the rooftops because of my leg and my goal is to be able to get some of them off your tail. I've got all of my specialty arrows. I am prepared for anything. They set up guns for you. I want you to put one in the back and front of your jeans, maybe one strapped to your thigh and there will be back up ammo and stuff on the motorcycle. They already made sure of that. Do you remember everything Steve and I taught you?"

"I know how to look like him if that's what you're asking."

"You already do. You'll be spectacular. But why the hell did you agree to this?"

"They're gonna swipe my criminal record, Clint. They're letting me off." Clint's face showed shock. "I know. I can't believe it either."

"That's huge, Charlotte." He looked really happy for me and I felt relieved. I really wanted to believe that they would swipe those records. After all of this, maybe I could leave S.H.I.E.L.D. without worry or maybe I'd grow to get my old job and my old self back. Either option was going to be fine with me. "I have total faith in you. Now let's get ready. Once you're out on the road, I'll be up on the roofs. If you need anything, if you need backup, I'm sure they'll give you some." I reached and grabbed the helmet.

"His motorcycle is outside, isn't it?" I asked. Clint nodded.

"They want there to be a big focus on you. The attack has been centered near this building so walking outside and unzipping your jacket should give them a start. As soon as you do that, sling your shield on your back and immediately get that bike on and drive. They won't wait for a chase. They want Steve dead automatically. They've figured out he's the leader and Loki knows how he feels about you." I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly.

"Clint, I'm really nervous about this."

"We don't have the time for you to doubt yourself but honestly, Charlotte, if they had to pick anyone to impersonate any of us, it has to be you. You'll be great. I'll get you out of there as fast as I can, I promise you."

"What if I wreck?"

"You won't. I'll take care of them. I'm going to take care of you. You're the perfect choice for this."

"What happened to you saying I was gonna get killed?" I asked.

"You won't be since I'm your partner." He smiled at me and I nodded. "You can do this, Charlotte. Have faith in yourself."

"I don't wanna let ya'll down."

"That's impossible. Now let's go." I followed Clint downstairs where I grabbed the keys to the motorcycle and Clint grabbed my shield. "Steve said that this one is yours." I nodded, taking it from him. He must already have his wire on. It was an exact replica, just as light as his had been so I slid the strap on, putting the shield on my back. "Slide it fast so that you can cover your arm if you need to." I tried that a couple of times until I perfected it. "God, you look just like him." I smiled, really flattered when I heard a boom outside.

"I've been wasting time."

"No, you needed to be perfect." Clint walked toward me and hugged me close. "Good luck, soldier." I laughed and did a fake salute when he pulled away. "You need a new codename, like Stars and Stripes or something."

"I will skin you." Clint handed me my helmet and I slid it over my head, covering my hair perfectly. The glass in front of my eyes was tinted and I automatically felt less nervous. "How do I look?"

"Like Captain America." I strapped a handgun to my thigh like Clint had suggested and had ones in the back and front of my jeans. Clint assured me there were at least two more on the bike. "A small Captain America but you look like him nonetheless."

"You take care of me, Clint. Don't let me falter." Clint only nodded and ran to the elevator to reach the rooftop. I breathed out, attempting to calm myself down then I flicked on my wire. "Hey, it's Agent Kent and I am going out now." I fiddled with the keys in my hands, looking at my nails and being happy that I hadn't painted them recently. When I opened the door, I fixed my eyes on that huge vintage motorcycle and tried not to notice all of the other damage. I slung the shield over my back like I'd seen Steve do many a time and unzipped my bomber jacket, revealing the suit top. It only took a second and I ran, throwing my leg over the side of motorcycle and turning it on.

"They see you, Kent!" said Clint. "Start moving now!" I revved the bike by turning the right handle and kicked off. It was massive but also incredibly durable and fast. I moved off without much thought. For my first time, I thought that starting off had ended up going well. I leaned to the left and turned, white knuckling the handles, praying that I didn't fall off. I tilted my head back slowly, trying to make sure that I didn't make the bike shake. My mouth opened in shock when I saw what was behind me. A whole fleet of those things was on my tail.

"Hawkeye…" I said, trying to get a handle on controlling the motorcycle.

"I'm on it," he responded. I swerved down onto a street, revving the bike more than I needed to. Luckily, there was no one around. They'd been wreaking havoc down here for at least a couple of hours. I jolted as I heard the first of their lasers go off. I turned my head to the side and saw the buildings on the right get shot, their glass breaking and falling to the ground. I didn't have to wait much longer for my left side to get hit too.

"Dammit," I said, without thinking and leaned forward to go a little faster. I wasn't outrunning these airships. Then the cars on either side of me blew, flipping over into the air and their glass breaking. I shrieked a little but quickly turned. "They really have it out for me." The bike was beginning to feel a little more comfortable for me.

I vaguely heard the others going out but I tuned out what they were saying. Unless someone was talking to me, I couldn't afford to take my eyes off the road.

"Kent," I heard Fury say.

"Yes sir."

"You look like the distraction you are. We gave you the guns for a reason. Shoot them." I tilted my head back again. Now was the perfect opportunity. Some of the aliens weren't in airships. They were pursuing me on land. I saw one of Clint's arrows take one down and silently thanked him.

I slowly let go of one of the handles, moving like a snail to grab the handgun I had tucked into the front of my jeans. As I pulled it out, I flicked the clip on the end, cocking it. I slung my arm back without thinking and fired. When I heard something, I knew I'd actually hit one. I sighed out a little. "Keep on, Kent," I heard Phil say. So I did it again, this time turning to look at my targets and shooting off two or three, hitting them every time. It was very lucky that I had been able to practice as much as I had.

"Yes!" I said. I was doing a lot better with the multi-tasking than I had thought was possible for me.

I went about that for a while, with Clint helping me out more than he wasn't. As I retrieved another gun, finally having the hang of driving one-handed, I heard them come through. "He's figured out that there are two Captain Americas," said Tony. "I see Loki on top of a building and I think he's got the cube but he's surrounded. All I know is that he's confused on which one to go after." I screamed as a car had been flipped in front of me and I braked, swerving to the side and kicking off, driving back the way I came.

"Personally, I think he's decided on me," I said, getting more and more irritated with these things by the minute.

"That's what it looks like," said Clint.

"There's barely any action down in our direction," said Tony. "In fact, we've barely got anything."

"Then come down here, I'm sure we've got plenty for you to help with," Clint responded.

"But why me?" I asked. "I'm not even wearing a proper suit." In a split second, I reflexed and slung the shield over, protecting my right side. I felt the impact of something and I braked again. I could only guess that it had been a laser. "Jesus!" I screamed.

"Dear God, Charlotte, are you alright?" asked Clint. I caught a glimpse of him on one of the rooftops, staring over at me. I could only imagine that Fury would reprimand him for not using my codename.

"What happened?" I heard Thor say. Clint began shooting the aliens one after another, trying to help me out.

"I should be dead," I responded. It was the only thing I could think of. As I drove off, I slung my shield back. "They hit me with a laser! I should be dead!"

"What happened? Why in the hell did that work?" demanded Tony. I reached my hand back behind me as I slowly came to a realization. When I gripped the edge of the shield on my back, I knew it.

"He gave me the real shield," I said slowly. "Dammit, Steve, why in the hell would you do that?" I turned over my shoulder and shot at them some more. "God! I should be dead!"

"You should be thanking him," said Clint.

"Damn it all!" I shrieked. If I had the real shield, Steve was basically going around without his only source of protection. Who cares if I got killed? I'm not actually Captain America. And of course, that's also the reason that Loki had focused in on me. He knew the real shield from a fake one. For Steve's sake, I certainly hoped that I was a lot of entertainment for Loki's henchmen. I needed to keep them away from over there. "I'm not saying 'thank you' when you could die!"

"Iron Man, do you think you and Thor could lend us a hand down here?" asked Clint. "I'm getting overwhelmed."

"Thor needs to track down Widow," said Steve. "But Iron Man, you go."

"Widow? Where is Widow?" demanded Clint.

"Don't lose it, Hawkeye," I said. "Do not leave me alone down here."

"Hawkeye, focus on Kent," said Fury. "We'll find her and the Hulk."

"The Hulk is missing?" asked Tony.

"Just keep with your partners. Evidently, you aren't safe alone." I breathed out slowly. Was Loki picking us off one by one? Well, there was no way he could take down the Hulk. Even Thor had a hard time with that so I knew it wasn't within Loki's skill range. But no one had heard from Natasha since she left S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I'm coming now," said Tony.

"Thank goodness," I replied. I grabbed the shield quickly again to protect myself from something else, whatever ammo they were using, I assumed. "Actually, Cap, I'm gonna buy you a cake when we get back in because this thing is coming in handy."

I registered that Tony was finally here and was helping us against the airships. Thank the lord, because they were my hardest opponents. My bullets couldn't even graze their surface. Only a carefully shot explosive arrow from Clint could take one down. Luckily, if Tony was here, they would decide to pursue him instead of me. But that left me with the aliens on foot.

They were huge and resembled what I thought Frost Giants looked like, although I knew they weren't them. I figured maybe Loki had had them on his mind when he decided on this army. But whatever the case, they were more than three times my size if I was standing. They were more than likely bigger than Steve and Thor, which I had thought was impossible. Speaking of Thor, he had been sounding like he'd been having a particularly hard time of it, making gruff noises every few minutes. Steve and Thor were probably Loki's main targets and I understood why.

For a while, I went through the same motions, swerving and shooting over my shoulder. Sometimes, I even attempted to do something more than a little risky but Steve could do a lot on this thing. If I didn't look like him totally, they would realize that it wasn't actually him. Besides, what I lacked in height needed to be covered up by something. Standing on the edges of the motorcycle did give me a few more inches but if I did that, I had to have both hands on the handles. It left me no room to shoot.

"Keep your hands steady, Kent," said Clint. "They can see better than you think they can." I nodded. He was right. I couldn't let my nerves get the better of me. I couldn't clue them in.

I wasn't sure how long I'd done it when I turned back, hearing something from Tony. He needed backup and I was the only person close enough to actually help him. Clint was still focused on protecting my backside and any blind spot I might have.

All in all, the motorcycle wasn't hard to control. Steve hadn't lied when he said that. But it was big and sometimes, maneuvering it took a lot out of me. I had to know way ahead of time for when I was going to turn. Unfortunately, the next turn I took wasn't going to be something I predicted.

I looked up and saw Tony preoccupied with one of their planes but when I dropped my gaze in front of me, there was trouble. I don't know how I hadn't noticed it but an entire group of those bastards had formed in front of my bike. I freaked. My left hand gripped the brake handle harder than I'd done the entire time and I swerved, losing total control of the motorcycle.

I vaguely registered that I was going to wreck before I'd hit the ground, my left leg stuck underneath the thing while I heard a loud crunch from my left shoulder. I screamed loudly, immediately gripping my arm in pain. I thought for certain that I'd never been in that much misery in my life. As I turned my gaze, I clawed for my handgun which I had dropped not far from me. When I looked beyond that, I saw my helmet.

My helmet was off. How the hell had that happened?

I had entered shock the minute I wrecked so grabbing the handgun was my main concern. I decided to forgo the helmet. I couldn't reach it before they'd seen me. I knew the Avengers were trying to talk to me but I didn't have the time to respond. I made a noise as I accidentally put pressure on my left arm. But I clawed on the ground some more, desperately needing my gun. If I didn't have it, I knew that they'd kill me.

I slowly lifted my right leg and used all of my force left in it to push the bike off of my left leg. "God," I said, as I pulled it out. A piece of glass the size of my palm was sticking out of the inside of my thigh and I pulled it out on instinct, with my hands shaking. I moaned at the pain. As I put my hand there to stop the bleeding, I caught a glimpse of the outside of my left leg. I bit my lip to keep from having a breakdown.

It was all scraped up. The jeans were in rags and all I could see was blood. I tried to forget about the pain everywhere as I went for the gun again, not caring about the helmet. But I paused the minute my hand gripped the barrel. They were backing off. None of them were approaching me. I dry sobbed and tried to push myself up off the ground. I kept hearing variations of the same thing over and over. "Charlotte, what are you doing? Get up and run!" I didn't know who was saying it because the pain was consuming every thought I had. I had done something terrible to my left arm and I couldn't even fathom what had happened to my leg.

"Charlotte, get up! They won't hurt you!" I heard Tony say.

"I can't," I moaned back. "I can't run. It's my leg." I realized that I'd been crying unconsciously.

"You're in shock. I will get you out. Look behind you. I am behind you. Get up and I'm flying you out." I turned slowly and I saw the familiar silhouette of the Iron Man suit not far from me. I'm not sure how but I managed to push myself up and by the time he'd reached me, I just collapsed. "I'm gonna get you out, Charlotte. I am."


	34. Chapter 34

**Okay so this part will be in third person. Haha, I have been obsessively writing lately and I just don't know why. Maybe it has to do with all these foreign trailers and TV spots. Well, as usual, I own nothing except Charlotte.**

Tony landed on the rooftop Clint was on, Charlotte's back curling over his arm, her top half tilting backwards. Clint dropped his bow and pulled her towards him, unstrapping the shield from crossing her. It dropped to the ground. "Get her out of that jacket!" Tony commanded as he unsuited. "She's in shock and she's got a bad arm. We need to look at it!"

"I don't think the arm is the worst of her troubles," Clint responded, glancing down at her leg. Blood was everywhere and the jeans she had been wearing were in rags. "Okay, Charlotte, let's sit down. Do you think you can do that?" She mumbled a yes, her pouty lips bloody. Clint sat with his back against the edge of the roof and had her lay her head on his chest. He slowly pulled off he now ripped bomber jacket and she yelled at him touching her left arm. "It's the left arm!" She openly sobbed as she looked down and saw her leg.

"It hurts, Clint. God, it hurts," she said. Her voice was cracking and Clint knew that she was in a lot of pain. Tony had been right, she was in shock. He put his arm across her shoulders to keep her calm and keep her back against his chest.

"I've got you, it's gonna be fine. I've got you." He turned to look up at Tony who had now arrived beside them. "What happened?"

"Loki commanded those damn things to go after her and she wrecked," he responded. "She fell in glass near the sidewalk and her leg was trapped so it scraped along it. I saw her pull a piece out of her thigh."

"Oh God, there it is," said Clint. "That's bad. Did she knick an artery?" Tony only shook his head, putting pressure on the inside of her thigh to stop the bleeding.

"I promise that I'm not trying to cop a feel." She coughed in response. "She doesn't know what's going on at all." Charlotte had started quivering from the cold and Clint held her faster. "Give me your knife, we have to cut this sleeve off." Clint slowly gave it to him, trying to make sure he didn't move Charlotte too fast. She was gritting her teeth and breathing out of time.

"Hey, I've got you," said Clint but he knew she was trying to ward off the pain. Tony carefully cut the full left sleeve off of that Captain America shirt and they both got a look at her shoulder.

Tony bent closer to her and said, "Charlotte, Charlotte, I need you to look at me." She turned her head slowly and Tony felt bad for her. She was miserable. "Your shoulder is out of it's socket. I have to push it back." She dry sobbed again and shook her head. Clint moved his hand and put it against her forehead, trying to calm her down by pushing her hair back. "I have to do this, Charlotte. It'll only get worse."

"God," she moaned, giving off a grimace. Tony stood back up and walked a little away from them.

"We need to clean this fight up fast," he said into his mic. "Kent is basically fully out of commission as I'm sure you're hearing and she can't hold out much longer. No one's heard from Widow in a long time."

"I am looking for her now," responded Thor. He'd been looking for Natasha for what felt like hours and there'd been no sign of her. He was certain she was injured.

"Well, I certainly hope you find her soon. Fury, do something!" Tony screeched.

"Iron Man, I need your help," he heard Clint call. "She's getting bad."

"Take off her mic!" he responded.

"What?"

"I said take her freaking mic off! Don't let him hear her!"

"It's a bit too late for that," said Clint, again pushing Charlotte's hair out of her face.

"What's Kent's shape?" said Fury, finally responding.

"It's bad," said Tony. "Her shoulder is dislocated and I can't even tell the damage to her leg. Hawkeye, take her mic out!"

"I can't! I don't know where they put it in this suit! It's not on the outside!" Clint called.

"Is Charlotte alright?" asked Thor.

"Where is she?" demanded Steve.

"Dammit," said Tony as he turned to Clint. "Get her mic off now! Don't let him hear her! Don't even let Thor hear her!"

"God," Charlotte whimpered, looking down at her leg. "Clint, get me out of here."

"Charlotte!" they heard Steve say. She coughed at hearing his voice.

"Forget it!" said Tony. "Take it out of her ear. She'll go into hysterics." Clint did as advised.

"Where are you? I'm coming!" said Steve.

"We've got her! Worry about them first!" said Tony, ripping his mic away from his mouth. "That walking lab experiment has to ruin everything!" Tony bent down next to Charlotte again and the look on her face said it all. She was going to pass out soon.

"Get me out," she muttered.

"I've got you," said Clint. "I have got you. Tony, do this now!"

"Steve, I want Steve," she said and for the next few minutes, that was the only coherent thing she said. Then Tony grabbed her hand and she turned slightly, staring over at him. She shook her head. "Please don't. I want Steve to do it. I want Steve." Clint winced at hearing Steve's reaction while Tony didn't flinch. He was all business.

"If I don't do this, it'll only get worse and that's not what you want is it?" said Tony.

"I just want Steve, that's all I want. Please let me see him."

Tony grabbed his mic and said into it, "She's gonna pass out. She's lost a lot of blood and she's not coherent. It's only a matter of time." When he put his mic back, he turned to Clint. "Keep her talking. If she faints, I don't think I'll be able to do it."

"They are backing off!" they heard Thor say. "They are backing off!"

"What?" asked Clint, in surprise.

"Loki knows she's been hurt," said Tony.

"They saw her?"

"Oh yeah, her helmet fell off in the crash. But as you can probably guess that was actually a good thing. They wouldn't dare touch her." Charlotte coughed again and the blood on her lips cracked. The movement caused her a great deal of pain.

"Hey, Charlotte," said Clint. "Charlotte, listen to me, you let Tony do this and I'll make sure you see Steve. He'll be there when you wake up."

"And I'll buy you something," said Tony. "What is that watch I saw you looking at in the office in New Mexico? Was it Michael Kors?" She slowly nodded. "Yeah, I knew you'd understand that."

"I just wanna get out of here," she responded. She sounded genuinely exhausted and they both knew she was.

"I've got you, sweetheart, and it won't be much longer," said Clint.

"I wanna see him too. I wanna see him."

"Who the hell is she talking about now?" Tony nodded at Clint's question. She meant Loki.

"Brace yourself, Charlotte," Tony said as his grip on her hand tightened. She moaned in response.

"He's not asking for your permission, Charlotte," said Clint. "He's gonna do this whether you say yes or not." She whimpered again.

"Are you absolutely sure you can't get her mic off? I mean, absolutely sure?" The last thing Tony was worried about was distressing Steve unnecessarily but if he heard her scream during this, and there was no doubt that she would, he could jeopardize things for the group. He got antsy when he heard her earlier when all she was doing was driving that motorcycle. Now that she was really hurt and he wasn't here, well, there was no telling. Tony was silently thankful that he'd actually given Charlotte the shield. Who knows how he'd have acted if she'd only taken the makeshift one they intended for her to have?

Clint nodded. "There's no time anyway. Are you sure you can do this right?" Charlotte's eyes began dozing.

"Charlotte, you need to stay with me. Don't pass out until after I do this. And no, Clint, I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor but I know this needs to happen now. If we hear the right pop and I move her arm around afterwards, we'll know we did it right. Now hold her fast." Tony breathed out slowly. This needed to happen right now and he was the only one around, maybe the only one halfway qualified.

Tony ripped out the wire to his ear. He didn't want to hear their reactions when he did this to Charlotte. "Where is she, Fury? Where is Widow?" Clint screeched into his mic. Charlotte flinched.

"Thor found her," Fury responded. "She's injured but not too badly. We've already taken care of the Hulk."

"Clint, focus!" demanded Tony.

"Brace yourselves for what Charlotte's about to go through," Clint said into his mic. Luckily, the rest of them were almost to the building.

"This is going to hurt, Charlotte, I mean, it's really going to hurt," said Tony. She solemnly nodded.

"Do it, I just want-" she started.

"We know," said Clint. "He's coming." Tony gripped her arm again and gave Clint a look. He tightened his arms around her, knowing she might need to be held back. Clint was hearing all sorts of things through his wire. He couldn't decipher who was more upset, Charlotte or Steve and Thor.

"Okay, here it goes," said Tony. She moaned in response. He pushed her arm up and into the socket with a loud pop and she let out a high pitched scream. She made a noise as he started pushing on it again, making sure it was in the right place.

"God," said Clint as he quickly removed his wire.

"You did it, Charlotte," Tony said as she became almost slack on top of Clint.

"She's out," he replied. "That was too much for her."

"I expected her out a while ago. I'm just glad I did it before she fainted. We'd never have known if it was in there right. Did they say almost everyone is getting back?" Clint nodded, exhausted, as if he'd been the one going through it. "What's up with you?" Tony took a seat beside them against the roof ledge.

"Man, I've never heard stuff like that before. I should've just pulled mine out first like you did. Steve was like… really upset. I've just… I dunno. And Thor was upset and Natasha's injured. She sounds it."

"It's over for this time. At least, we're all alive."

"I could've shot those guys off of Charlotte, I know I could've. Me and her were supposed to be teammates. She was so scared before we went out too and I reassured her that she wouldn't wreck."

"I'm not good with emotional support, Clint. You know that. But you couldn't control that. She'll be fine. I just hope she didn't total that bike. You know they'll want her back out here."

"Unfortunately, I do. She told me that they promised to swipe her criminal record. It was the only reason she agreed. I highly doubt that they'll do that. That's the only thing keeping her here."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Tony was grinning. "You heard what she asked for."

"Well, once we explain everything, I'm sure she'll be pissed. And she has every right to be. We've been lying through our teeth. And don't forget she asked for him too."

"But Loki is insane. She knows that now. She wasn't mad when Steve told her anyway."

"She barely had the time to get mad between then and now."

"God, for once, I was actually rooting for Steve and then he blows it by telling her that."

"She deserved to know and he knew it. He felt guilty. I don't blame him there."

"Yeah, well, now he's blown it with her."

"I don't think so."

That was when they noticed someone near them. Tony turned but on instinct, knew who it was. Clint immediately wrapped his arms around Charlotte again, trying to keep them back. Loki was standing before them, wearing what Tony considered an absolutely ridiculous outfit. A cape? Seriously? Asgard needed a wakeup call. But Tony saw his hand curling around that staff with the blue light at the end. Thor had never fully explained it to them but Tony knew it was powerful. Why else would he carry the thing around everywhere?

Tony stood but he honestly didn't think the god of mischief had even noticed the motion. His emerald eyes were focused on the unconscious Charlotte and disturbingly, he thought Loki looked loving. That was odd. Anything sappy like that automatically made Tony want to hurl but it especially did when it was coming from a creeper like Loki.

"I did not know it was her," Loki said, finally speaking. His voice sounded like wind chimes or something equally fake; something that was meant to soothe you but only ended up irritating you. But Tony understood how Charlotte had fallen for him. Any woman would go weak at all of those pretty words.

"Don't you think that was the entire point?" asked Tony. Loki turned to him, his face a mask of anger.

"I did not come here to kill you but I most certainly will."

"Then why are you here?" asked Clint.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Tony with a sly smile.

"You are insufferable," said Loki.

"I get that a lot."

"I intended on apologizing. I would never have touched her. Why did you make her fight?" he demanded.

"Believe me, it wasn't our idea," said Tony. Clint said nothing. Loki constantly unnerved him.

"I could heal her," Loki said, moving to walk past Tony but he blocked him.

"Tony, let him do it!" said Clint. If Loki just touched Charlotte's leg, she would be guaranteed to not have any scars from it. In fact, she'd barely feel the pain and the wound itself would go down within the week. If she was offered his help, she'd take it. Besides, there was no point in keeping it a secret anymore. She would've known the truth sooner rather than later anyway. What was wrong with his help? It's not like he'd poison her.

"No, I don't think so. I think he should leave."

Loki smiled a bit but then his face snapped into a grimace. "I will kill you, Stark. Do not make the mistake of thinking I would do otherwise. Move out of my way."

"Yeah, you did throw me one time, didn't you? Managed to piss me and Charlotte off but somehow, I wasn't badly injured. I think both you and I know how that happened." Loki narrowed his eyes. "She won't wanna be with a psychopath like you and if you keep doing backhanded things for her, you'll just confuse her."

"I am not crazy."

"I beg to differ. Now go." Clint heard the door onto the rooftop open and Loki vanished at the sound. "Seriously, that guy does not understand his limits." As they turned, they saw that the others had finally arrived on the rooftop. "Finally! We need to go now. I pushed her shoulder back in and it's right but her leg is torn up."

"Stark, was Loki just up here?" asked Fury. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but I'm not a miracle worker as I know you like to think. I can't take care of everyone's problems."

"What did he want?" Thor asked. Thor looked beat up, as did most of the others. He had an unconscious Natasha in his arms and Clint immediately wanted to go to her. No matter what she liked to think, Clint and Natasha made a very good match and he knew it.

"Well, first he said that he didn't know it was her and that he would never have touched her if he knew and of course, I replied that that was the entire point. Then he offered to heal her and I told him to get away from us. All in all, it was a triumphant time for me."

"Is everything a joke to you?" asked Steve.

"If it's funny!"

"Look, we really need to move her," said Clint. "She's been passed out since her shoulder and she was loopy long before that. And what the hell happened to Natasha?"

"We think she's got a concussion but nothing major," said Fury. "She was just knocked out. Probably being around Banner like that was a huge stress on her. But they both need to be moved and once we do that, I will send all of you back down here to survey damage. Luckily, this time most of it wasn't your fault."

"While they're in the medical facility, we have to come back?" demanded Clint.

"They're not going anywhere and chances are they'll be out for a while, be it unconscious or just plain sleeping. It won't matter. Surveying this should only take a couple of hours; the run time for any tests made on them." Steve shrugged and Clint relaxed against the edge of the roof.

"Well, Steve, come take Charlotte so I can get up," said Clint. He did as Clint asked, trying to baby Charlotte's left side. Her leg was practically shredded. Thor grimaced.

"There is blood all over you," Thor said to Clint.

"It's hers." Clint looked down and saw that Charlotte's leg had left blood all over his own and there was even some on his arm. "I told you, she lost a lot of it and there was just no way to put pressure on something that stretched from her upper thigh down to her ankle."

"I never thought I'd see the day that I'd say this," began Fury, "but Stark, you and Barton actually did some very great work."

"Yeah, I know," said Tony. "There's no telling where she'd be without us."

"Can we just go?" asked Steve.

**-Charlotte-**

I groggily opened my eyes and saw the outline of a white ceiling. Where the hell was I? My whole body ached and it felt like someone had set fire to my left leg. When I turned my head to the left, I saw that I was in a hospital bed. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical facility! That's where I was! I also saw a glittering watch on my left wrist. That hadn't been there before. I tried to bring my hand forward but a shock of pain floated down from my shoulder and I moaned, regretfully putting my hand back down.

"Don't strain yourself," I heard a voice say. My head snapped to the right without much warning. I didn't recognize the guy but he was in a white coat so I assumed he was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doctors. "I'm Dr. Jacobs. You've been unconscious for a couple of days."

"Unconscious?" I asked, my voice sounding hoarse. The man nodded. He was very plain looking with short brown hair and glasses.

"Well, more than likely, that was a mixture of lack of sleep with your medication we put you on as soon as you got in."

"It's not doing it's job," I responded, thinking only of the burning in my left leg. I had never felt something that hot before. "Why am I here? What happened?"

"It's normal that you don't know. What's the last thing you remember?"

I struggled hard, my mind feeling groggy from being asleep for so long. "Um, I saw a group of aliens when I was on my motorcycle. I mean, it's not mine but whatever." He cracked a smile at that. "I think they startled me." He nodded.

"You wrecked and the bike was on top of your leg."

"That explains the burning."

"You also fell in glass. One of your pals said that a bunch of windows had broken in cars and buildings so unfortunately, you hit a right good pile of it." I grimaced. "There's a pretty narly cut on the inside of your left thigh from a piece of glass that you apparently pulled out."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's good you did. There's no telling what infections could've come from leaving it in there for a few hours. But the outside of your leg got the worst of it, as I'm sure you're feeling. There were at least fifteen shards that we had to pull out, not to mention that you just scraped the pavement for a while." I bit my lower lip. That sounded awful. "Luckily, you were out during the agonizing process of pulling those things out."

"And my arm? What's wrong with that?"

"Your shoulder got dislocated. Your friend, Stark, pushed it back in for you before the fight ended apparently. He did a remarkable job on it considering what was going on. It'll just be sore for a little while."

"I'm sore everywhere." Tony had pushed my shoulder back into place? Wow. "And this watch? I wasn't wearing it. That much I remember." The doctor smiled.

"It's a gift from Stark. He said you made a deal for it."

"I wish I could remember that," I remarked.

"It's normal for you to forget what happens when you're under great duress. Especially when you'd been injured in the manner you were. I gave you some salve for your leg that should help it and of course, pain pills. Don't baby your leg all the time. I do suggest that you try to bend it and walk on it without limping. That should quicken the healing but right now, just be off it. It'll make it hard on you, I know, but it's better to do that than to writhe in pain every time you move it. Some of those shards of glass were almost completely submerged in your leg."

"Gosh," I said. "How long until it's fully healed?"

"It's really a guessing game there, Ms. Kent. It could be anywhere from two weeks to two months and I'm not going to lie to you, it could be just two weeks before you even feel comfortable standing on it, let alone walking regularly. The soreness elsewhere should vanish in a few days." I bit my lower lip to try to keep it together. Not being able to stand on my leg comfortably for two weeks? This burning sensation in it would last for maybe months? I sickeningly enough wanted to go back out in the field. "It may scar pretty badly, that's one of my only concerns and Barton warned me that I should tell you that lightly." I shook my head.

"It doesn't bother me that much. I can say I got it from fighting with them. I'm sure that's a privilege no one else can claim." I did feel like crying though. My legs were one of the best parts of me, maybe the only part that I was truly satisfied with.

"Yes, it is, Ms. Kent. What you did was magnificent and from what I heard, you fit right in with the team. At any rate, there are tons of products that help with scarring." I nodded.

"Where are they? Are any of them injured?"

"Agent Romanov suffered a mild concussion but she's been fine. She's getting released today. I tried to make her stay for more tests but she just wasn't having it." I smiled. That was exactly the way I would expect Natasha to react.

"Can I see the others?" He nodded.

"They're right outside. They've been taking turns staying with you. I'm afraid they'll be angry that I was the one in here when you woke up. I think they were making bets." I smiled again.

"They haven't gone home at all?" He shook his head.

"As I understand it, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was doing some fast renovations since that guy overtook it and completely ruined parts of it."

"You mean Loki." My heart stopped at the mention of him. I wanted to forget he even existed at this point. My mind had too much to do.

"Ah, yes, I never can remember that man's name. It's unusual. But speaking of him, I believe I saw him here last night." My eyes widened. "I'm not too familiar with what he looks like but he was the only person who visited your room who I hadn't seen before and of course, I'd been briefed on his history with you. He was wearing very odd clothes and he spoke to the person who was in here with you at the time."

"And who was that?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. This was too much. It really was.

"Rogers." I gripped the railing of the bed with my right hand.

"And he didn't hurt him?" The doctor shook his head.

"It's why I questioned whether that was actually him but I can tell by your reaction that it was indeed Loki. I'm not reporting anything, if you care to know. It was obvious that he wasn't here to destroy this facility as he did the headquarters. But I would suggest that you not mention it to the others. I just thought you might want to know."

"Um, thank you so much for telling me that. I'm just so shocked… by everything." No, I actually didn't want to know that, sir, but thanks for that turn of events. "Will you bring them in to see me?" He nodded and walked off. I tried to bring my left arm forward again, attempting to focus on something other than what my mind was making up. The conversation between the two of them couldn't have been pleasant.

The watch was rose-gold and Michael Kors. I'd been looking at it online months ago. Damn, Tony was good. Pepper was a lucky woman if she could put up with everything else that he did. I rested my arm back down again, after noticing a scar on one of my fingers and pulled the blanket off of me. I gagged before putting it down. My leg was bandaged from top to bottom and even through them, I could tell it was bad. I had hoped the guy was exaggerating. Maybe I could just stay here a few more days and avoid everything for a while. Who was I kidding? That was a dream.

The door reopened and I saw my doctor come in, followed by Tony, Clint, Thor, and Steve. My breath caught in my throat as I instantly moved down the line of them, trying to see if I'd been lied to and any of them actually were hurt, especially Steve. If he'd had an encounter with Loki, I just didn't know what to think. They all looked unscathed as far as I could tell. They seemed to be looking at me with the same intensity. But I smiled to put them at ease. Better they not know how much pain I was in. I would've given my year's salary for some of that magical medicine from out in New Mexico but something told me that that hadn't been medicine at all.

"Are you okay?" asked Steve, moving towards me. I nodded while reaching my left hand toward Steve. I slowly laid it palm up on top of my left leg and he grabbed it, realizing that's what I wanted. It felt like he was trying not to grip me too hard or maybe I just couldn't feel anything that wasn't the burning sensation in my leg.

"I'm still living," I replied. Barely. "Ya'll look great," I said, trying to get the subject off of myself. If I didn't think about it, maybe it wouldn't hurt as much.

"So do you," said Thor. I shook my head.

"You don't have to be nice." I moved my right hand to touch my face because I hadn't thought of that before. My lips were cracked but that probably came from the helmet so that didn't surprise me. At least my main money maker was intact. "And I see you got me a watch, Tony."

"That I did," he said. "We made a deal, remember?"

"I'm afraid I don't remember that at all. I don't even remember crashing."

"It's not unusual for someone in her circumstances," said Dr. Jacobs. "She was in shock and then the injuries."

"Of course," said Clint, nodding. He could be so cordial when he wanted to be. It was one thing I'd always liked about Clint.

"What else was in this so called 'deal'?" I asked. "Did you promise me money or some other treasure if I let you push my shoulder back?"

"You wouldn't want to hear the other part of it in public," said Clint. I knew color was creeping into my face and I started wracking my brain for something I would've asked for when I was that loopy.

"I'll take your word for it."

"Everyone already heard it, of course. Thanks to your wire," said Tony.

"Man, you couldn't have taken it off?" I said, almost put out.

"That's exactly what I said." I put my right hand to my temple.

"I'd rather still be unconscious. How long do I have to stay here?"

"You're leaving later today, Ms. Kent," said my doctor. "Dr. Banner is taking Agent Romanov back now." I blinked. Really? Today? When I wouldn't be able to walk comfortably for weeks? That's just great.

"It takes all four of you to escort me back?" I asked.

"We're not going straight home," said Steve. I looked over at him and my heart began pounding. They were going to explain everything. I couldn't do that right now. I'm sure I had that deer-in-the-headlights look I always got because Thor moved to the other side of the bed and I thought for certain he was going to give me a hug.

"Well, uh, when is 'later today'?" I asked the doctor.

"It's actually a lot later right now than you think it is," he responded. "It's around 7pm. I just wanted to look at some final things and set up your meds then you're free to go. You should be out by 8." I nodded slowly.

"Well, we'll let you get to that," said Clint. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll all be in a better mood. This place is depressing to be in."

"You can say that again," said Tony and he took the lead, walking out followed by Clint and Thor, who slowly moved from being by my side. I loosened my hand and Steve walked away too. I closed my eyes slowly.

"Do I need crutches or anything?" I asked. Dr. Jacobs laughed a little.

"Your leg isn't broken, although you're lucky it wasn't. It very well could have been. But no, crutches aren't necessary. One of them should help you around. Barton, most likely, since he's close to your height. And as I said, babying it will only prolong the healing. As soon as you slightly feel better about it, start practicing walking. It will take time so you just need a bit of patience. I'm sure you'll be doted on," he responded. His confidence in my bros taking care of me was encouraging but the amount of time this would take would utterly suck. I would be confined to the penthouse with all of my thoughts. That's not what I wanted.

A few more tests were run and he handed me four different bottles of pills, all at varying degrees of pain relief, and some bandages. He also gave me three small tubs of salve to rub on my leg but I noticed that nowhere on it did it say it would relieve all of the heat. I threw all of them into my huge purse that Thor had brought me. Bless his heart, Thor may not be the genius of the group but he was so caring and he really tried. He even volunteered to carry it for me, much to the amusement of Tony.

I moved to get out of the bed as the guys came back in. Sitting up on the side of the bed was enough of a trial. Thor ran to my side immediately before anyone else could and offered his arm. I moaned at accidentally bending my leg.

"Hey, Doc, she's gonna be better in a couple weeks, right?" asked Tony. "I mean, she's my best friend so I need her up to full potential." I snorted.

"Really?" I asked, grabbing hold of Thor's upper arm and trying to slide off of the bed without bending my leg. He moved his hand to my lower back and gave me a little push.

"You, me, and Clint for life!" said Tony. "You're seriously my bro, Charlotte."

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," I responded, trying not to collapse. Luckily, I hadn't been in a hospital gown or anything. They must've been expecting me up soon. I was dressed in a S.H.I.E.L.D. t-shirt and what appeared to be workout shorts. "I really couldn't have picked a worse time to get a leg injury."

"Sweatpants will get over that easily," said Clint. I nodded. I hadn't thought of that and of course, the bandages wouldn't be nearly as heavy once I got back home. I thanked the doctor for everything and then I reached for Clint and he came over, relieving Thor of his duty of holding me up straight. Clint was only taller than me by a margin of a few inches, not like Thor or Steve who were practically a foot taller than me. I draped my arm around Clint's shoulders and he wrapped an arm around my waist, already helping relieve some of the weight off of my leg.

I slowly hobbled down the corridor with Clint while the three others were walking in front of us, Thor holding my purse. I tried to hold back a laugh. "Are you in a lot of pain?" Clint whispered.

"A bit, yeah. My leg feels like it's on fire but that's not because I'm trying to walk," I reassured him. Chances were I'd just have to get use to the pain in my leg for a while.

"I'm sorry about it."

"It's not your fault," I responded, making a noise as I again accidentally bent my leg. I was worried that my leg was beginning to scab over and bending it would just crack the healing process it was going through. Never mind that a piece of glass had wedged it's way into the bend in the back of my knee. My life was just full of fun.

After what felt like a lifetime, we arrived at a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle where I was helped into the passenger's seat so that I could stretch out. Tony got in beside me. I sighed because I was finally sitting down again. "You're absolutely miserable, aren't you?" asked Steve. I nodded slightly.

"I'm really hurting, ya'll, so we don't need to heart-to-heart about Loki right now, okay? Or ever, actually. I don't care. Let's just put all of that behind us. He's insane, I'm over it, let's just move on," I said.

Tony shook his head. "Don't pretend that you don't wanna know, Charlotte. Besides, this may be the only time we can sneak out without looking suspicious."

"There's some stuff you ought to know," said Clint. "Like Loki trying to convince Bruce to turn on us when he was in the facility the other day."

"You've gotta be kidding me," I replied.

"That's why he Hulked out."

"Does Fury know about this?" Tony snorted.

"We're gonna leave Fury out of the next batch of plans," said Tony. "And you'll see why when we tell you the general idea."

"Well, what's the general idea?"

"Let us get there. You're so impatient!" Before I could say something in edgewise, he started talking again. "So you don't remember anything? Anything at all?"

"Well, I remember fighting."

"Which you were fantastic at!" said Clint. I saw Tony nodding. I knew I hadn't been the best but apparently, I had done my job.

"Thanks. It's a pretty vague memory but I think that has to do with adrenaline and not sleeping beforehand more than it does with the wreck. I hope I didn't total that motorcycle, by the way."

"You didn't," said Steve. I breathed a sigh of relief. The cost of repairs on that thing would've been pretty much unaffordable for me.

"I kind of remember the aliens not having too great of features. I was never close enough to them to get a good reading though."

"Yeah, those aliens are fucking terrifying," said Tony. "Sorry to your virgin ears, Steve. And you weren't there but man, the first time they were coming out of a portal in the sky and it was just weird."

"Well, they had to get to Earth somehow," said Clint.

"Yeah, but your crash was bad, Charlotte. You went into shock immediately. Your helmet fell off but you didn't care about it, you just went reaching for your gun. But the aliens stopped the minute they knew who you were."

"What?" I said.

"Come on, don't act so innocent. You know what it is." I stared out of the windshield, feeling like I might be sick. "At any rate, I flew you out and Clint and I had to help you while the others finished fighting."

"You saved my life," I said. "Tony, I never thought I'd say this but thank you."

"No, it's nothing. If I hadn't gotten to you first, he would've taken you." I didn't need to hear the name. I knew he was talking about Loki.

"He hasn't attacked any since then?"

"There's been no trace of him at all," said Steve.

"And ya'll are planning something against him that you don't wanna tell Fury about?"

"You could say it that way," said Clint. I hadn't realized it but Tony had stopped the car. We were in a pretty bustling part of New York, one of the few places that Loki had yet to touch.

"I'm not going in a bar in this shape, Tony," I said once I realized that we were outside of one. Clint helped me out and I again draped my arm around his shoulders.

"We're going to the VIP room," Tony responded. "Besides, you definitely need a drink."

Once inside, Tony flashed his ID and all of the doors seemed to magically open for him. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to be a man of his stature. He was Iron Man, for God's sake, and the whole world knew it. We arrived in a backroom that looked like it was more for a club than a bar. As I slouched onto one of the sofas and elevated my leg on a stool, I watched Tony hand a bartender what was no doubt a hundred dollar bill. "He's getting your favorite," said Tony.

"And what is that?" I asked, as Steve took a seat beside me.

"Rum. Just some straight up rum."

"You paid a hundred dollars for that?"

"I bought everyone a round!"

"You're hoping for another truth-or-dare round, aren't you?" asked Steve. Tony shrugged, sitting across the room from us. Thor seemed wont to sit down anywhere so I gestured with my head for him to take my other side.

"You're making me nervous, pacing like that," I said when Thor reluctantly sat beside me.

"I apologize for stressing you," he replied.

"Is there something going on?" I asked.

"There's a lot of shit going on," said Clint. "Where do you want us to start? Beginning when we had to lie to you or end with the plan we have?"

"I'll take it chronologically, thanks."

"I don't really know where to begin."

"Well, something had to convince you that Loki wasn't just playing games with me. Start there." I was nervous. I swear, my palms were starting to sweat.

"Speaking for myself," said Tony, "I wasn't convinced very early on. They kept telling us that he was looking out for you but I just didn't get it for the longest time. At least, not until that incident at my office."

"You weren't paying attention in the meetings then," said Clint. "We had a lot of definitive information on it before that." He turned from Tony to looking at me. "Look, I know this is gonna be hard for you, Charlotte, but if you honestly think about the stuff he's been hinting at, it should come as no surprise."

"It really doesn't come as a surprise when I think about it," I said. "But I just thought he was putting on. He did say that if I heard it from someone else, I might finally believe it."

"The first thing that gave us a clue was when he got you with one of Clint's arrows," said Steve. Steve was just staring blandly at his hands and I could tell that he felt bad.

"That's true romance right there," I said sarcastically.

"Charlotte," began Thor, "Loki is extremely powerful. He healed you."

"Excuse me?"

"Tell it in order, Thor!" said Tony.

"That arrow was jagged," said Clint. I shook my head.

"No, it wasn't," I said. Clint only nodded.

"He took care of that for you," said Thor. The way Thor worded it made it seem like Loki had done something extremely romantic, not just taken away jagged edges to make the pain less on me. "The magic he placed on it also helped heal you." I brought my hands to my mouth in shock. I hadn't expected anything at all like that.

"You can't be serious."

"I assure you, I am."

"He stabbed you to make it look like he'd used you and that you didn't have a choice," said Clint. "He apparently didn't intend for you to get in so much trouble with us."

"He was always around you too," said Steve. "There was nothing I could do about it. He was just always there. Even if you never saw him, I did. He wouldn't leave you alone out there."

"Loki won't leave you alone here apparently, either," said Tony.

"At the diner," I said, "he told me he enjoyed seeing me and he wanted to tell me something but I just told him to leave. Then at Tony's office, the entire point was for him to be able to talk to me. He wanted to tell me that ya'll had been keeping this from me. Oh my God, it makes so much sense now."

"He's been trying to protect you too, have you noticed that?" asked Tony. "Threatening me to make sure you get away from the Avengers, locking you in that holding room in the facility, calling off his mutts when your helmet fell off." My right hand began shaking on top of my leg and I grabbed it to keep it from giving me away.

"I can't even believe this. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We were under orders," said Clint. "We didn't like it but they were worried that with that information, you'd run out, grab him, and take over the world together. You know everything about us, even specific fighting techniques."

"I wouldn't do that to ya'll."

"They still don't trust you with that," said Tony. "But when you're writing down your pros-and-cons list tonight for potential love interests, put down 'raging psychopath who stalks me' on the cons side for Loki." I laughed at that.

"I'm not gonna date him! He's crazy! He's trying to take over the world! I don't care about what's going on but I'm not dating him again on principal."

"You say that now…"

"What are you trying to say?"

"You can't avoid him," said Steve. "And it's not unrealistic that you would want to be with him."

"That is beyond irrational. No. I'm just- No."

"Well, you're gonna have to feign interest in him because that happens to be the plan," said Tony.

"You're the one who's insane! Who do you think you are, commanding me to talk to him? What the hell do you even mean? I'm not doing it! Why do you want anyone to talk to him?"

"Being cordial is the only thing we haven't tried," said Steve.

"And Thor won't stop saying that Loki can be talked down," said Clint.

"He can," said Thor. "Surely, you know this, Charlotte. You know Loki." I shook my head at him.

"There might've been a time where that would've worked but I think it's passed," I said.

"No, your injury has opened up so many doors," said Tony. "He can't touch this city when you're still inside it. He came on the freaking rooftop when you'd passed out after I put your shoulder back in it's socket. He barely even noticed that me and Clint were there. He said that he would never have touched you and he offered to heal you." My mouth dropped open.

"Why in the world did you say no?"

"Think about it, Charlotte. What kind of message would that have sent?"

"I was unconscious!"

"It would've made us all look weak, like we need his backhanded charity. If he asks you and you take it, that's on you but it would look better on us if you acted like you didn't need his help. Of course, he could do it without you asking. That's what happened last time."

"I can't believe this!"

"Just calm down and think about everything," said Clint. "I'm only in on this plan if you think there's a slim chance to talk him down. Yours is the only advice we want. You're a world class researcher. You're trained to figure people out and know everything about them. What do you know about Loki?" I shook my head.

"When I was living with him, I wasn't thinking of Loki as something I needed to research or write a file on. I barely knew anything about him. I didn't want to invade his privacy."

"You've never needed someone to tell you everything before," said Tony. "Before I came to work here, they said you could read people automatically."

"I make mistakes on that."

"When have you made a mistake on any of us?" asked Steve. I shook my head again. That was different. They were people I worked with closely on a daily basis and none of them were trying to hide things from me. It's easy to read people who are open. Loki was a closed book to me.

"If it's true and he's really not over the edge like I assumed, then there probably is a chance. But you have no proof that he isn't."

"The disgusting way he was looking at you on that rooftop proved it to me," said Tony.

"It was the interrogation room for me," said Clint. And he'd come to my room when I was knocked out. I made a mental note to ask Steve about that later. "He's not putting on emotions for show. Why should he?"

"Why does caring about me mean that he isn't totally hellbent on world domination or something?" I asked.

"Put the pieces together!" said Tony. "You are so oblivious to men, Charlotte! If one cares for you, he's going to do anything! Especially a bastard like that who may never have another woman love him in his extremely long life."

"People like you, Tony, are the reason that Loki is the way he is right now."

"Look, Steve got bullied his entire life and he's not a supervillain," said Clint. "He's a hero."

"But he's not Steve! I can't change his plans," I said. "I can't make him stop being a villain. Don't you remember? He made these plans while he was living in my house. He was going to do this regardless of me."

"You have defended him from day one and now you won't try to help the guy?" asked Tony. I groaned. I decided not to be on Loki's side and they give me shit for that. I'm on his side, they hate me.

"This is the only plan we have," said Steve. "Unless we get our hands on that cube, he basically has an endless supply of those aliens. Or if we find whoever he's teamed up with but that's probably impossible."

"One person can't change his mind," I said.

"Thor still loves him and you know that." I nodded. I did know that.

"Okay, okay, lemme think. Their relationship is something I could milk. I don't care how bitchy Loki thought he was being but I knew he still cared for Thor. He couldn't even talk about him. I mean-yeah, I can do this. He's just damaged."

"Hey, if you could kill his aliens, you can definitely talk to him," said Tony.

"That's what you think."

**Okay so this chapter is obnoxiously long and I'm sorry about it, haha. I have to focus on some academic stuff in the coming couple of weeks unfortunately so my updates will hopefully still be regular. I just want to finish this before the movie is released… but that's an incredibly unrealistic dream.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Sorry for the incredibly long wait! As I said before, I had some school stuff that really overtook my life for a while and may for the next couple of weeks. So that's been my real focus. But this chapter is longer than the last (I know, hard to believe) and I think since my brain's been so fried from college that my editing was a little messy this time around. If so, lemme know. It may be a while before I really get to look at it and go through it fully. But as usual, I own nothing but Charlotte.**

When I got back, Phil gave me a nod and with his badassness, that was a major compliment to my abilities. Fury only commended me somewhat but hey, it was still a compliment. When I got back inside the apartment, Natasha and Bruce were there. Natasha had taken it upon herself to buy me a replacement bomber jacket and a new pair of combat boots. I literally almost started crying. I didn't know if it was the meds or what but that was just incredibly sweet.

Taking a shower was probably the hardest thing I'd had to do yet and I didn't doubt that it may be the hardest thing I had to do on a regular basis. Standing for that long didn't sound like a good idea and water hitting the wound? I didn't think that sounded full proof either. But I had Thor help me by turning on the water and undoing the bandages first. Seeing what my leg actually looked like made me feel like hurling.

It just looked raw, like I'd never had skin there in the first place. It didn't help that the salve that was on it smelled like actual medicine. But I'd get used to it, I was certain. When I got in the shower, I had to grip the shower curtain pole not to fall down. I made a bunch of noises that weren't pleasant as I felt the water run the expanse of my leg. "God," I moaned. The water gave some relief to the burning sensation but it really didn't matter much, not compared to everything else.

I got out fast, after no longer than a five minute shower and got dried off. I wrapped the towel around me and walked out, having to rebandage my leg before anything else. I couldn't put the salve on myself so Steve helped me with that. I felt like telling all of the Avengers how much I loved them for this.

After that, I just felt like passing out in bed which is exactly what I did after popping a couple of those pills. Sleeping was fine due to the fact that some of these pills practically knocked me unconscious but when I woke up, I felt miserable again. I tried to give myself a mental pep-talk before moving to get out of bed.

How exactly were we going to contact Loki? Tony seemed fairly confident that he would just show up on his own. Apparently, he'd wanted to apologize to me on the rooftop when I was passed out. That was rather nice of him. No, stop, don't think like this. I sympathize with Loki too much anyway. At least now that was going to come in handy.

What if he touched me though? What if he convinced me to do something? And somehow, they all had faith in me that I wouldn't screw this up. Why? Because I'm a researcher? Because I'm good at understanding people? That means nothing in the way Loki, absolutely nothing. He has a huge wall up when it comes to stuff like that. All of the things I know about him, I don't know from him. I know them from police reports and Thor. The only honest thing he ever told me was that he and Thor were on bad terms and that he was a Jotunn.

I pressed the back of my right hand to my forehead. He would show up, they would let me talk to him on my own, and maybe I would actually have some luck and convince him to back down. Although, I had a pretty bad feeling about this guy he was working with. Why agree to team up with someone who wants to run the world, unless you somehow had that same goal?

"You up?" I heard a voice say. I moved my hand and saw Clint standing in the threshold between our rooms.

"I reckon I am now," I responded. "I was just thinking about Loki and the plan."

"Hey, even if it doesn't work, at least we tried it," he said, sitting on the opposite side of my bed. "You never know until you try, right?"

"I dunno, Clint. I'm just confused about it. I'm finally over stuff with him and now I have to retcon that just to see if maybe something will work. Sorry if I'm being a little hesitant."

"You've been through a lot lately, Charlotte. It's not that we don't know that. But you have to understand that you're the only option for this. Who's to say he won't start a bitch fight with Thor?"

"Who's to say he won't start one with me? He gets angry pretty quickly."

"That's not what you're really worried about anyway."

"You're right. I don't want him to flip this on me and somehow, talk me into wanting to help him. Because I don't want to help him do this. Like I said, I think there may have been a time where I could've gotten through to him but it was in that beta period between us living together and him finding an army. Hell, maybe that overlapped. Whatever it is, he made the choice to do this without me in mind."

"What if you could talk him down though, Charlotte? Have you thought of that? What if Loki actually gets what you're saying to him and he decides to change? What would you and Thor do?"

"I imagine Thor would be ecstatic and would wanna take him home," I responded. I know I sounded sad at the idea because Clint made a face. I didn't want Thor to go back to Asgard. I was too close with him now. To a certain extent, I didn't really want Loki to go back either.

"But what would you do? Hypothetically, of course, let's say this works. You tell him there's life outside of being a villain and he chooses that path. He's going to assume you'll lead him down it, don't you think?" I kind of smiled at the idea.

"I suppose that I would. Loki wouldn't have anyone other than me and Thor. Maybe he's never really had anyone other than the two of us. If it would mean progress for him, I'd be more than happy to do it."

"Well, what do you think that entails?"

"Are you trying to trick me into saying that I wanna be with him?"

"It's not a trick. I'm just honestly asking. You have to wonder."

"I've thought about it a lot before. Oh, what would've happened if he hadn't turned so quickly once Thor came back? Oh, what would've happened if Thor hadn't returned? I don't honestly think about that one seriously because Thor is a great person and one of my only friends but it was the catalyst. It was like an automatic switch for him. But I mean, I think about those questions only as much as I think about others. Like, what would've happened if I never met Loki? Would I be with Steve? Would I be with Thor? Would I know Thor? Would I be unhappy? Would I love my job? But you know, hindsight is 20/20 so I can make up these scenarios in my head as much as I would like but none of them are coming true." I knew that had sounded as rambling out loud as it had in my head. Everything just falls out of my mouth.

Clint moved to lay on the bed and prop himself up beside me. "Tell me what you would do. Do you love him, Charlotte?" No one had ever phrased it like that before. In fact, no one had ever asked for my real opinion on Loki before. He was manipulative and a liar and a sneak but he was funny and his voice was a 10 and he seemed to feel so much more than anyone else I'd ever met (not that he'd ever let you know he felt anything other than apathy).

"Why do you care about that, Clint?"

"Because no one's asked you and I think it should've been asked on the first day."

"I've never really thought about it before. At least, not in words that serious."

"What if he told you he loved you?" I didn't know what game Clint was trying to play but he was certainly getting a reaction out of me. My emotions were always plain, it was why I could never be a spy. "You'd be happy." He didn't ask it as a question. It was a statement; a very true statement. I would be very happy. In fact, I would question everything if he decided to stop taking over the world and told me he loved me.

"But he doesn't, Clint. He's infatuated with me because I helped him adjust here."

"Yes, he does. The stuff Loki has done for you isn't typical of infatuation."

"Why are you trying to pull this out of me?"

"Because if you admit it to yourself, you can start trying to deal with it."

"I don't wanna deal with it. I want to forget about it because I was making pretty great progress until Steve told me." Steve. Oh God, I couldn't do that to Steve. Didn't Clint understand that? I sank into my pillows further. My emotions were going to murder me.

"Steve felt guilty about it. We all did. But I think he told you then because he thinks you're settling and he doesn't want you to do that."

"But that's not true!"

"Yeah, we know that but you can't blame him for thinking it. He saw you all the time beating yourself up over what happened." I gulped. "And you know long he's wanted to be with you. From like his first couple of months working here." I bit my lower lip.

"You're trying to torture me."

"I'm trying to give you advice and make you help yourself. I know you don't need to hear me say it but Steve is miles above Loki. He is ten times the man that 'god' will ever be. Just think about it, Charlotte. What kind of life could you possibly have with Loki? It wouldn't all be playing house and laughing at each other. He won't age and you will. Don't say that he could take you back to Asgard. After everything that's happened here, Thor has even said it's a slim chance they'll let Loki back. A life with him can't possibly be what you want. But Steve, God, Steve adores you and he would never put you in danger. He would never use you or hide things like Loki does. He would give you everything." I opened my mouth slowly but no words came out. I didn't know what to say. I'd never even thought about most of those things. "Steve told you because he wants you to be happy. Loki just wants you."

I brought both of my hands up to cover my face but took them away just as fast. "I love them. I love both of them. I'm a liability. Just let them take me to jail. I'm going to get them both killed or they're going to kill each other. God, I hate this."

"Look, neither of them are idiots. Neither are you. I didn't say it to upset you. I said it to make you think."

"I wish I was still unconscious right now."

"Charlotte, you can't hide from this forever. You need to start dealing with it and come up with a plan for when you're talking to Loki. You can't make progress with him unless you're being honest."

"I know, I just- I don't want to do this. I don't want to deal with it. Talking to him will only dredge up emotions and weird feelings and he'll try to manipulate me. He knows how much I care for him. That's why all of this has been happening. Loki knows there are buttons on me and the next fight you have, he will try to kill Steve. He's going to do that whether I talk him down or not."

"There's so much you can say to him to stop something like that before it happens. Tell him that Thor forgives him and that his family was sad when he fell into the abyss or whatever. I don't care. You know him better than the rest of us do."

"This was one shitty pep-talk, Clint. Now just let me go back to bed after you help me redress my leg." He shook his head over at me.

"I'm not going to let you hide in here. Everyone wants to see you. It'll be good for you. We can have a group meeting and this will all get better from there." I made a face at him as Clint got up and moved to my side, ready to pull me out of bed if there was no other choice. "Seriously, you'll feel better for it. Besides, they've started showing TV footage of us!" I rolled my eyes. Clint and Tony were probably basking in that.

"Fine, I guess I can go downstairs and have the group meeting." Clint moved to help me sit up and I winced as my leg bent slightly when I moved out from under the covers. "Is it actually okay for us to be talking about that in here though? I thought we had to escape their cameras."

"Natasha told me this morning that Loki ruined their equipment, one of the only things they haven't been able to fix. They can't even see up here now. I mean, we've still got Jarvis but we can say whatever we want around Jarvis."

"At least Loki did something that'll pay off for us." Clint bent down and started unraveling the bandage on my leg. He was rougher with it than Steve had been. I looked away once the wound was really exposed and I handed him the salve from behind my back. I couldn't take looking at it.

"I said for Tony to let Loki do it. He just didn't listen to me. Hell, maybe he's right and it would've made us look weak or maybe he was just doing it to torture the guy. But I say you let him heal you. You're miserable and Loki will offer when you see him." I nodded.

"Thank you." Clint started rubbing the salve on and I breathed out as some of the fire in my leg cooled off.

"I know I just said some shitty things about him but it is pretty clear that he cares for you. I don't even know that he would be doing this kind of thing for Thor."

"Well, when Thor gets injured, it heals more quickly. Whose side are you on, Clint? I thought you were on Steve's."

"I am but I guess after everything you'd said about him earlier and everything he's been doing for you, I'm starting to feel bad for him."

"He's really sympathetic. I'm sure that if ya'll hear what we talk about, you'll find him even more so." Clint nodded, rolling a new bandage around my leg and securing it. "It might be doable; getting him to stop this madness. I mean, the more I think about it, it actually is worth a shot."

"I told you. Come on, let's go see them and talk about it." Clint helped me up and I started walking with him slowly. When I finally got to the hallway, Thor greeted us and handed me three poptarts, each one a different flavor.

"I know you do not eat much since you are so tiny but I did not know what flavor is your preferred," Thor said. I started smiling at him.

"I'm starving actually so I want all three," I responded. Thor was grinning like he was some sort of puppy.

"I would have you see what is on the… on the…"

"The television?" I asked. Thor only nodded. "Are you on it?"

"They just started the coverage," said Clint. We began to walk forward and I began to take the stairs slowly, every time a pain shot up my leg. I groaned. "Just let Thor carry you. Thor!"

"No, that's-" I started but was cut off as Thor scooped me up and carried down the rest of the stairs while keeping my left leg straight.

"You just got carried down a flight of stairs by a prince!" said Clint. I snorted.

"Thanks, Thor," I said, beginning to gnaw on one of the poptarts. Jane had said he had a preference for them. I think he had been hoarding some in his room, worried one of us might take them.

I looked around at everyone. Tony was antagonizing Bruce. We were back to that, I suppose. Natasha was sitting beside Steve on one of the couches. "How are you feeling?" asked Natasha. I waved my hand a little, so-so.

"Well, get ready for this!" said Tony. "We're gonna be on TV."

"I can't believe they actually got video footage of us," said Bruce.

"They really got video footage of us?" asked Steve. "That's incredible considering the circumstances."

"I'm wondering how they managed it too," I said. "Especially without getting killed."

"I think a couple of them did," said Clint. "They've been trying to promote it all morning, saying people got shots of us with cellphones and stuff and they've just found cameras everywhere."

"People who do stuff like that are idiots in my book," I responded. "'Oh, look, there's tons of aliens out here with laser beams that could disintegrate me but I'm just gonna stand here like a moron and try to get a video of my death.' Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?"

"At least they didn't volunteer to dress like a target and actually attempt to get hit by stuff," said Tony. I stuck my tongue out.

"Oh, here it is!" said Clint. I could tell Natasha and Bruce weren't excited about it. Thor clearly didn't really understand what it meant. Tony was used to it and Clint and Steve looked genuinely excited. I was neutral. I had known a superhero group would attract attention but I was wondering how they would explain someone like Thor or Steve.

I tuned out for a little while because they all began talking as the reporters showed pictures of each of them followed by a clip of a fast move. The pictures were clearly from S.H.I.E.L.D. They were the ones on their IDs. Tony's was first. Then Natasha's flashed across the screen as they referred to her as Black Widow. Then they showed Thor, showing a clip of him using Mjolnir to hit and flip a car. Then Steve, who they continually referred to as handsome, was shown narrowly missing a laser. Poor Steve was embarrassed just hearing it. They then showed the Hulk and Clint. There wasn't a good shot of Clint because he'd been on the rooftops the last time. Then my heart felt like it had stopped and everyone stopped talking.

"Oh my God," I said. My face flashed on the screen with my real name emblazoned underneath it. My picture looked like a mug shot. It was the one they'd taken the day Loki had stabbed me when my hair was still long.

They'd been making comments on everyone, calling Steve handsome, saying Thor was unusual, saying that Clint was innovative. But then they started talking about me. "And last but not least, not an actual member of the Avengers, we have the civilian hero, Charlotte Kent, who was disguised as Captain America."

"The civilian hero?" I screeched. Then my clip played. I heard myself scream and I watched in horror as my wreck played out onscreen. My helmet fell off and they'd moved in closer to showcase my face. I clapped my hand over my mouth. "Oh my God."

"Apparently, she just works with them and volunteered to go out," said one of the reporters. "Whatever the case, every one of these people is commendable. Tomorrow, at our live press conference with them, they will be taking questions. Tune in then." Then they showed a montage of other clips of us, including one of me using the shield.

"I did not sign up for a CNN press conference," said Bruce.

"I didn't sign up for any of it!" I screeched. "They told the press my real name! Why couldn't they have said a codename? Or better yet, why was I a fucking idiot and lose my helmet?" I saw Steve wince and I brought it down a notch. "Damn it, if it's the last thing I do, I'm punching Fury in his effing face because this seriously takes the effing cake! Or better yet, we all team up on him and take turns punching him until he's out cold. Which would ya'll prefer?"

"Calm down, you're a hero now," said Tony. "Press conferences are fun."

"I am _not _a hero, Tony. Look at me!"

"Neither am I," said Bruce. "I can't believe this."

"So you're down with the punching plan? How about you Hulk out and knock Maria out too? I really hate her."

"Look, if neither of you show up to the press conference, they're going to have a field day with it," said Tony.

"Being nationally recognized for something I had to do isn't something I asked for."

"Yes, you did. The contracts say in them for everyone to be prepared for recognition."

"I am not an Avenger, Tony. I never asked to be one! I shouldn't have to show up there. You know how I am, how am I gonna answer those questions? I was just doing my job!"

"Tell them that," said Clint. "We're the ones they're most interested in. You, me, and Natasha. We're the ones without powers and the ones they know nothing about." The Hulk had sort of been in the public eye a couple of years ago. Steve had been rightfully famous in the 1940s but that was over seventy years ago. Would they say someone had just taken up the name of "Captain America" and pretend he wasn't the original? Thor had seen some action out in New Mexico but he was nowhere near ready to be put in front of a panel of reporters who just wanted to use all of us as a meal ticket. And of course, Tony was beyond used to the public eye.

"You also didn't have your full name released to the press today. I don't want them to know who I am. I didn't do anything spectacular. I was a glorified shiny object for them to follow so that ya'll had a real shot."

"And you gave us that shot," said Steve. "Not to mention, you actually fought them."

"That doesn't mean that I'm on the same level as any one of you."

"You didn't have to go out there," said Clint, "but you did it anyway. Everyone will love hearing that. New York loves a civilian hero." I grimaced.

"I can't believe it's tomorrow. I don't have the time to brief Thor on how to act during an interview without tipping them off."

"Chances are, they won't let him speak much anyway," said Clint. I exchanged a look with Thor. He just wasn't prepared to even be there, let alone to talk to these people.

"Damn it, I am just mad."

"Look, we'll get you a codename," said Tony. "It'll be totally fine. Calm down. It's not a big deal. You talk to Loki, he'll change his mind, we do several press conferences, and they'll forget about you. It's common sense." Before I had the chance to speak, Natasha cut me off, changing the subject.

"Speaking of Loki, what's the plan there?" she asked. I shrugged. They were all looking at me like I would have some brilliant idea on something to say. I didn't. In fact, I had no idea what to do about it.

"Well, first I need to know stuff that happened while I was out," I said. "Bruce, what the hell happened with you? Tony said Loki had tried to convince you to turn on us." Bruce shrugged, obviously wanting to forget about it. I took a seat on one of the couches, finally calming down.

"Indeed, he did," said Bruce. "He just played on my emotions and all of the doubts I had about being in the Avengers. I really don't even understand how he knew some of those things. I mean no offense to any of you when I say this but I was almost completely convinced to do what he told me. He understood what my fears were concerning hurting any of you. But he faltered when he tried to tell me that all of you thought of me as some brute to be used at your disposal. I know that's not true so of course, it set me off."

"I understand it," I responded. "Is that all he wanted from you? Just for you to leave us?" Bruce nodded and I tilted my head back, staring at the tall ceiling.

"I really think that's the only thing," said Tony.

"He talked to me when we fought," said Natasha. Everyone turned and looked at her, wondering why she hadn't mentioned this sooner. "It was really nothing. He said I was a good foil for him. I suppose I see why. But he does clearly intend on killing all of us. He knocked me out with a blast from that spear. Maybe he thought I was dead."

"Yeah, okay, now I'm really convinced that we need to be nice," said Clint. "Charlotte, sing his praises, make out with him, I don't care what you do, just please talk him down."

"I didn't think he was actually picking us off one by one," I said, in shock. I remembered hearing Fury say to stick with our partners because we weren't safe alone when he admitted that he'd lost Natasha and Bruce in the fight. I didn't think that was actually Loki's goal.

"Don't include yourself in that," said Tony. I glared over.

"I don't think he can be talked down," said Natasha, "no matter what the rest of you think. I think we need to kill him." Thor stepped forward.

"Loki is beyond reason but he is my brother," he said, speaking for the first time to the rest of them.

"Thor," I began, "what if we do it together? What if you and I talk to him?" Thor only shook his head at me.

"Loki should not see me now."

"He's right," said Steve. "You're the only one he's guaranteed not to hurt." I put my fingers on the bridge of my nose, like that would somehow make me have the right thing to say. Of course, it didn't. I dropped my hand.

I just openly stared at Steve and sat there blankly. "Fine, whatever, I'll struggle through it," I said. "But we don't know where he's gonna be."

"That's not gonna be a problem," said Tony. "He'll come to see you, no doubt about that. Once he realizes you're up and about, he'll be here." I nodded. Tony was right about that.

"My only request is that when I do this, I'm allowed to do it on my own terms. I wanna be alone with him. I don't want ya'll breathing down my neck trying to tell me what to say. That only makes it worse. And whatever I say, I want you to take it with a grain of salt. He's only gonna respond to certain things and I know what they might be. I know you're gonna watch even if I tell you not to and whatever, that's beyond fine. I just don't wanna hear you." They all seemed to understand where I was coming from which I very much appreciated.

"I'll get stuff from Jarvis. We could all get out of here tonight." They all nodded in agreement so I shrugged.

"I don't think that's enough time for me but whatever, I can work with it."

"You're a federal agent and half a day isn't enough time for you?" asked Clint.

"The guy broke up with me by saying, 'Maybe someone like me could love someone like you' which is basically saying that he's a god and I'm a puny human and then he stabbed me! What do you want from me? That I be eager?"

"The sooner you do it and get it over with, the happier you'll be."

"And the sooner we can know whether we need to start launching missiles at him," said Tony. "And you do realize that he'll probably try to sweet talk you with that obnoxious Shakespearian voice he has?" I choked on a piece of my third poptart and started laughing.

"Are you sure you didn't date him?" asked Clint. Tony made a face.

"I'm just saying that he tries to be charming when it's just sleazy."

"AKA he's you," I said. Clint doubled over and Steve tried not to laugh.

Eventually, we all broke off into doing our own things which meant me sitting on the couch for most of the day. My hair was getting scruffy from my home haircut job so I asked Natasha to do something to it so that I would look good for the inevitable press conference tomorrow. She gave me side bangs and made my hair frame my face better. She did a much better job than I had but still, at least I hadn't been looking like an idiot for the past couple of months.

I thought about asking Steve what Loki had said to him when I was unconscious but I figured it might actually be something worth bringing up with Loki himself. Actually, maybe that would make him angry. If I set him off, there was literally no telling. Maybe I need to give some serious consideration to what Clint had told me this morning.

I painted my nails while the guys went downstairs for a while. Bruce went to his lab, I was sure. Thor and Steve were bonding, which I was too happy about. Clint and Natasha were training and I think Tony was repairing a couple of things on his suit. So I was stuck alone to come up with a plan. Sadly though, no matter what I kept telling myself, I had genuinely no plan at all. Against all of my own wishes, I would have to just say what I feel. He deserved a little honesty, in all actuality. Loki had been being kind to me when he didn't have to. I owed him.

As my nails finished drying, painted a dark green which I found ironic after the fact, I got a text from Tony.

Tony Stark: _Leaving from here now. I'll keep an eye on you with Jarvis. Press the security button if you feel threatened. Btw, be smart. He's off the deep end._

I responded with a quick, "_Ok," _and threw my phone down on the cushion beside me where it had been sitting all day. Obviously, I would press the security button. That's the entire reason it was here. Just because it was Loki doesn't mean I would hesitate on pressing that. And yeah, I also knew that I should watch my step with Loki. I pushed myself up off the couch and strode into the kitchen slowly. Walking without Clint to support me was actually genuinely terrible. My leg began doing that shaky movement that happened when I'd stood on it for too long and the heat in it only increased.

I gripped the counter to the island in the kitchen and paused for a moment before moving to the cabinets and quickly grabbing a glass. I groaned because my shoulder was still sore. "Jarvis, where does Tony keep his secret stash of alcohol?" I called out. I always felt silly when anyone spoke to Jarvis aside from Tony.

"In his bedroom," Jarvis responded. I rolled my eyes. Going upstairs would be a dangerous feat for someone in my condition.

"I guess I'll stick to soda." I opened the refrigerator and the cold assaulted me since I was still wearing those gym shorts and now a cami tank top. I had been wearing my company jacket with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the back but for whatever reason, the apartment had been more than warm enough to go without it. I felt like thanking corporate for that decision because it meant that I had seen most of the guys shirtless today.

As I bent forward to look for a drink and a snack, the lights in the apartment snapped off. I stood back up suddenly and dropped the glass I'd been holding. The lights flashed back on as the door to the fridge closed. I slowly turned once I realized that the cold I'd experienced earlier hadn't dissipated, that it was thick in the air. My eyes focused on the island and the helmet that was now sitting on it. My breath caught in my throat.

Son of a bitch, Tony had been right.

Loki wasn't showing himself but I knew he was there. It was his helmet sitting there and the cold in the room was almost overpowering. How had I never noticed that before? I moved forward and gripped the island again, moaning at the pain that came from moving so fast. The helmet was beautiful and golden, ten times what I had thought it was in those pictures out west. Of course that was something Loki took when he was in here.

Looking at it alone was so tempting that I reached forward and touched it. The metal was incredible and it sent a wave through me much like Mjolnir had but where Mjolnir made me feel warm and welcome, this felt icy and dark… almost evil. I couldn't imagine what his staff felt like. I let go immediately and pushed it away from me. I turned my eyes to one of Jarvis' covert cameras. I take it back, I hoped they were seeing this.

I turned my head back and noticed the glass I'd dropped was now on the counter and I breathed out. I closed my eyes tightly and when I opened them, there he was. My mouth hung open wider than it usually did. It felt like I hadn't seen him in so long when it had only been days since I'd interrogated him. Loki was clad in a black and gold metallic outfit with an emerald green cape hanging from his shoulders. I'd never realized that he and Thor's outfits were polar opposites. It was as if they were trying to make themselves look like foils to each other. His skin looked like light was reflecting off of it and his fingers were tightening around his spear.

I straightened up when I saw him look me over, my left hand tightened on the counter of the island. "Your hair is different. I like it." I nodded slowly. Of course, it wouldn't be a normal time unless he mentioned my hair. "What did you want? I will get it for you," he said quickly. "Go sit down."

"I don't need anything. I don't. I was just practicing walking," I responded. He made a face at me and I only shook my head. My eyes focused on another of Jarvis' cameras. Fire shot through my leg and I winced, unwillingly.

"Can I look at it?" At this point, he wasn't really looking me in the eyes. He was staring down at my leg. I started shaking my head.

"It's gross, you wouldn't wanna see that. I mean, I don't wanna see it either so let's just forget it happened." I could almost hear Tony applauding me in my head. I wouldn't accept his charity.

"I did not realize it was you at all. I am so sorry about it. It was not my intention. I would never have touched you." The words were so earnest and frankly, I think he really believed we were alone.

"That's not your fault. That was kinda the whole point; for your henchmen to follow me. What are they anyway?" I was hoping to pull out some information too during this conversation.

"I believe they are called Chitauri. The tesseract helps me with them." I slowly nodded. The word, "Chitauri" meant nothing to me.

"And your new pal helps you with them too, doesn't he?" Loki pressed his lips together, shutting up. "Sorry, I don't mean to be prying. You don't have to tell me anything."

"You received new information a few days ago, did you not? What they had been hiding from you?" He looked to be smirking and I didn't find it funny at all. But I nodded in response, trying to look at something that wasn't one of the covert cameras.

Loki let his staff lean against the counter of the island, it's blue light dimming since it wasn't in his hands and I felt a wave of power float down to me, where I was still gripping the counter. I immediately let go. It had the same dark energy I felt from his helmet. I immediately knew that I didn't want to be a part of it. "Why did they decide to finally let you know?" he asked. I could've sworn that he almost sounded excited about it.

"Uh, as I understand it, they thought I was doing something for them that I wouldn't normally do if I knew the truth about you. And that's not what it is. I hope they know that." My eyes were looking at a camera now, one in a crevice behind Loki. I had made it seem like I was speaking about all of the Avengers when I was only talking to the one who'd told me. Clint had gotten all sorts of things in my head this morning.

"Who told you?"

"Are you telling me you don't know?" I shifted my weight to my right side fast and moved to grab the counter beside the fridge. Loki extended an arm to help me and I jerked back. "I'm fine." He let his arm drop. I just didn't want him to touch me. I'd lose it if we had physical contact with each other. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I just need to learn to move on my own. I can't baby it." Loki nodded. It was partially true.

"You are in pain, let me see it." His voice sounded begging so I gave in and nodded, moving to start unbandaging my leg.

"I mean, it's disgusting and the medicine for it smells terrible but if you wanna subject yourself to that, who am I to stop you? You are a prince, after all." He made a face that I couldn't tell was amused or not, maybe even flattered that I remembered it. Then he bent to his knees in front of me and began undoing the bandage himself. He was the gentlest person who'd done it for me. I'm sure the shock was on my face clearly as I made a face at one of the cameras. Gosh, why had Tony even told us where they were? Now that's all I could think about.

My heart started pounding and I put both of my hands on the counter behind me to stop them from shaking. I sucked in my breath when my wound was finally partially exposed. His cold fingers were pressing into the inside of my thigh as he saw it too. He paused for a second and I breathed out hurriedly. I knew it was going to gross him out. He's so prim and proper and he could heal faster than I could. He was more than likely disgusted.

I flinched as he touched the inside of my leg again so he immediately pulled away. "I'm sorry! It's not you. It's just- My leg- My leg feels like it's on fire all the time now. It's just the way the injury is. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I'm sorry." Loki only shook his head at me. I supposed it was a good sign as he went back to slowly unraveling my bandage. Damn, Clint really made me a mummy this morning.

I caught a glimpse of the place on my inner thigh where I'd pulled out a shard of glass and bit my lip. My whole leg ached but for some reason, that was always the worst. "You did that," said Loki, touching right below the same deep cut I'd been looking at. "I saw you." And so had everyone watching CNN earlier. Tomorrow I was going to have to ask why they had chosen that particular clip of me.

"I don't remember doing it but for some reason, that's the worst part of my leg. I mean, the outside is just fileted but this cut knicked an artery or something."

"I can heal you," he said. I bit my lip. I really wanted him to but maybe Tony was right. If I gave in, how would that make the rest of them look?

"I can't accept that. I need to do it on my own. It'll heal on it's own." I felt like I was stumbling over all of my words today with him.

He stood up and looked down at me, my leg now totally exposed. "If that is what you truly desire." I closed my eyes in distress. No, that's not what I truly desired. What I truly desired was for me to have never been injured at all. "Do you need me to rebandage it? Where are your things?" I shook my head fervently.

"It probably ought to breathe a while anyway and besides, doing something like that for me would be a little lowly for you." He smiled at that.

"It is indeed in pretty bad condition. I really am sorry for what happened."

"You don't need to be. I knew the risk when I went out. It's got nothing to do with you. I'm glad it was a good disguise." I really was, considering Steve had given me his shield.

"Why were you even out there? Why would they risk you getting hurt?" I could practically hear the rest of them screaming in my head to get down to business but if he was here, I wanted to have a real conversation with him.

"My bosses suggested it and obviously had thought about it longer than I originally realized since they were more than prepared for me. But I agreed so it is my fault and it's got nothing to do with the Avengers. They were completely against it but it helped them so I'm glad I did it." Loki opened his mouth to respond but I started speaking again. "Before you ask, I agreed because they said they would take away my criminal record which is something that terrible people on Midgard have. They could put me in prison. The only reason I have one is because I helped you." Loki backed away from me slowly and I was suddenly afraid he might disappear. "I don't mean to make you mad but it is the reason I fought with them."

He grabbed his staff and started twisting it in his hand, almost like he was irritated. "Are you quite sure they did that for you? Were I where you stand, I would not be so confident." I'm sure a flash of confusion flickered across my face because he recognized it. "You cannot trust them. I would have thought by now that you knew that."

"Are you saying they tricked me?" I asked quietly. His emerald eyes looked like they were being honest for once. I leaned back against the counter. "How do you know that? How could you possibly know something like that?"

"I do apologize for the part I played in their hurting you but you never meant much to them at all. I fear they sent you into battle because you are expendable."

"That's not true. That is a bald-faced lie, Loki. I have worked with these people for years! You're the reason they hate me. You are. The only reason they began threatening me was because I was sympathetic to you. Oh, if Thor does it, it's fine because he's the god of thunder! But me, oh they couldn't have that so they handcuffed me and made an example of me because you escaped their clutches! I have defended you from the beginning so please do not start that bullshit with me. Just don't. I don't want you playing games with my head anymore. I am seriously tired of it. So you tell me straight, did they swipe my record or not?" Loki made a serious face and I knew he was about to tell me the truth.

"No, they did not." I made my hands cover my face so I kept myself from losing it. "I know you say that you hold hatred for me but I would never do the things these mortals have done to you." I let my hands drop from covering my face. I'm sure my already large eyes were just growing larger. These _mortals? _Since when was I not included in that disdainful group to Loki?

"I don't hate you, Loki, not at all. I just- I want to save you while there's still something left to save. You're so hurt and I understand that and I am so sorry for everything you've been through but you are projecting your life onto my problems. I trust these 'mortals' because they've done right by me, whatever is happening downstairs in their file rooms. I can forgive them for that. They're scared of you and they're scared of what could happen if I keep in touch with you. They are being smart." Loki had a hurt expression on his face and I just wanted to apologize to him, even when I'd done nothing wrong.

"I know I am responsible for your fate but these… Avengers kept so many things from you when they are supposedly your allies."

"They are my allies, Loki. They had no choice. They couldn't tell me anything and I'm glad they didn't."

"Surely, you do not mean that," he said. "Are you not the least bit angry? Enraged, even? You were lied to."

"You've lied to me too and I haven't really had the chance to sit around and get mad about it. They told me everything. They owned up to it. That's all I asked."

"Did they reveal everything to you? Are you sure they were not biased?" Loki looked questioning and maybe a little manic, like he was confused on why I hadn't fawned over him yet.

"They made me think you cared for me. I thought you knew what happened. Don't you spy on us all the time?" He smirked in response.

"Indeed, I know certain things but not why they told you. Do you believe them? Do you believe I care for you?" Reluctantly, I nodded. I really hoped that he did care for me; otherwise I was beginning to look like an idiot. But he clearly did. The way he'd looked at me the entire time was as though I was his only care in the world and he truly felt pained for hurting me. Now he seemed wonderfully happy. "What does it mean for you?" I saw Loki begin to edge closer to me and I kept my back against the counter.

I shook my head at him. "I can't do anything with you. You know that." His face began to show shades of different emotions, even ones that I couldn't fully decipher. My decision was causing him to snap under pressure. "There are bigger things happening here than what's going on between me and you." Loki turned away from me.

"You and I are a great deal alike, Charlotte." The chill in his voice unnerved me and I completely froze. "The only difference being that others actually adore you." Oh no, I'd put the final nail in his coffin. The last thing he needed was another rejection. That's what started this in the first place.

"Is that what this is? Is that what this stems from? You think you can't be loved? You got told late in life that you were adopted but Loki, please that is madness. I loved you and you know Thor loves you." He grimaced at my first mention of Thor. "What about your family? They grieved you when you fell from the Bifrost."

"What proof have you they did?" he asked indignantly but his expression told me that he genuinely wanted to believe what I'd told him. I wanted to believe it too.

"What proof do you have that they didn't? Thor has said more than once how much he wants to forgive you and have you forgive him. It's not too late to make things right. Listen to me, you are loved by your family and you are incredibly talented. I'm sorry no one told you that enough. You deserved to hear it." He looked at me intensely, like he wasn't quite sure he did deserve it. "What did they do to you in Asgard? I just don't get it." I must've been staring at him earnestly because he looked away and fiddled with that spear again. He'd been doing it ever since I mentioned his family. In fact, the light on the end of it was pulsing more vibrantly than I'd ever seen it, like it knew how damaged Loki was.

"They are not my family, Charlotte, and they never were. They lied to me and treated Thor infinitely better and I never knew why. I figured it out on my own and had to confront my father. He had always treated me differently and so did my friends." I clenched my lips together. Was I getting through to him? Was he actually talking to me? "They ignored me for Thor. He was the rightful heir and I suppose they knew that. I suppose they did not trust my tricks. They were right in that." Oh lord, I was talking to a practical child, a thousand year old child. He propped that staff up beside me. Again the light on it seemed to dim and now it seemed to be focusing it's energy on reaching me. That spear burned with what I could only describe as dark magic. It wanted me to touch it.

"Look, Loki, you're hurt and you never got the chance to deal with this healthily because they never told you. And maybe I don't know your family but I believe deep down they didn't tell you because they never wanted you to feel different." Loki's eyes welled with tears and I reached for his hand, clutching it with my own. "You are Odin's and Frigga's son. You are Thor's brother in all the ways that count. They love you so much but you will ruin your chances with them if you continue down this path and I don't want that to happen for you. I want you to be happy." I was actually infuriated with Odin. If he'd said the right thing at some point, it could've reigned Loki in.

"I do not care for them anymore." He moved to put his hands to my face. I looked up at Loki. His cold ran through my body, alleviating some of the burning sensation in my leg by a mere touch.

"You can't kill innocent people," I responded, moving my hand to grab his forearm. "That's not gonna make you feel better. Maybe you were always jealous of Thor but lemme tell you something. You knew from the start only one of you could ascend to the throne but both of you were born to be kings." His eyes seemed to light up at my words, clearing of tears and I knew I'd hit it. Thor wasn't the right button to press; his being a prince was. Obviously, he was still hurt over Thor but I could deal with that later. "Kings show mercy, Loki. That's a great skill to have. Show Earth mercy. Stop killing these people." He began smiling and dropped his hands from my face, placing his hand around that spear again.

"Charlotte, humans need a new ruler. I could teach them all a lesson. You were all made to be ruled." I breathed out. Dammit, all of the progress I'd just made was gone.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Do I look like I'm gonna go down without a fight?"

"Come with me." My already large eyes widened and I stared over at one of the cameras. "When I kill them all, I want you to be safe."

"Oh my God," I breathed out, turning to face the counter. But he didn't give me time to be reluctant. He bent towards me, his chest pressing into my back, his mouth near my right ear. As he curled a piece of hair behind my ear, he placed his other arm on the side of me, completely blocking me in.

"Think about it, Charlotte. Think of all they have done to you," he breathed and I closed my eyes at his voice. Everything he said was seductive. "They have suppressed you, they have locked you away, they have taken your job, they have lied to you for months because I am the one you should trust. I have your best interest at heart. You are talented. I could give you everything you would need, indeed everything you could ever dream of. I can show you things you would think impossible." I didn't doubt him but I shook my head and tried to move away from him. I couldn't take hearing his voice in my ear.

"You're insane if you think for one minute that I'll leave with you when you say you're gonna kill them," I said. "You can't do that." I know I sounded like I was begging but I was beyond desperate.

"I can and I will. I will butcher them. You know I am telling the truth." I tried to back away from him and he moved his arm, letting me.

"I know you care for me but so do they. I love them, Loki. I love them. Please don't do this. They're only trying to do what's right. I love them." Loki seemed to snap and become terribly angry. "You deserve so much more than this. I can help you. Tell me where the cube is, the tesseract, whatever. We can talk to your partner. You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do." He moved his spear in his hand and I flinched, praying he wasn't going to use it on me.

"What happens if you fail? Do you think Asgard will take you? Do you think anyone here would? I adore you, Loki, and you know deep down that Thor does. None of this changed anything for him. We have been on your side from day one. Please let us help you. I want to help you."

"You cannot help me. And tell Thor not to waste his precious time. I have to do this. If you will not join me, I suggest you stay out of my way." The pain in my leg was almost overpowering at this point but I wouldn't dare give in to it.

"Look, not all people are light or dark. You and I are in-between. You don't have to lean to the dark. All of this animosity you've experienced can be used for good. You and Thor could return to Asgard and then you would know how much they all care for you."

"I told you, I do not care for them anymore."

"Then what in the hell do you care for? Are you trying to get yourself killed down here? If you keep doing this, that's what will happen and nothing I can say will save you from them. I've tried." I think my voice cracked because he looked like he was pitying me.

"I am beyond your saving, Charlotte." I bit my lower lip and shook my head at him. He wasn't simply talking about me trying to save his life; he meant he had been off the deep end with this for a while and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Unfortunately, I believed that to be true. "You are foolish to not take my offer."

"Don't you understand why I have to say no?" His eyes seemed to cloud over and I swear, I think he was about to cry again. "I told you, this isn't about me and you. You're threatening war for my entire planet, you stole a cube that has unimaginable power that you could never hope to control, and you're killing for fun. What kind of person would I be if I abandoned my friends for someone who's doing that?"

"You know nothing about the tesseract," he responded, as if that was the only thing he'd gathered from the conversation.

"Oh, Loki, yes, I do. I know much more about it than a lot of people do." My mind flashed to the several times I'd pored over Steve's file, reading up on the cube. I remembered going through what we knew about Thor and Loki before Thor returned. I knew what that thing did to people and it was clear that it was beginning to manipulate Loki. "It makes you think terrible, terrible things and it wants to make you believe it can give you everything. It's power will destroy you. Give it to me. That's what's making you act like this." The light on the end of his spear looked like it was going to give off a shock wave and I came to a stark realization. He had at least some part of the tesseract incased at the end of his staff. When he was talking, he only sounded full of rage and insane when he was holding it. It turned his hurt and anger into mania. Only a spark of him came through when he was holding it and that spark had to do with me and Thor. We _were _the right buttons to press.

"Why give it to you? Why hand it over to you and the Avengers? It has unlimited power and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share?" He sounded seductive and insulting at the same time. "And then to be reminded what real power is. You are foolish, Charlotte, unbelievably so." I shook my head.

"Your partner has it right now, doesn't he? Who is he?" Loki let go of his staff, letting it lean against the counter again and I felt immense relief. "I'm no threat to you."

"Thanos," he responded, walking slowly and tracing the edges of the island with his fingers. "He is an incredible ally but he does want the tesseract." My heart skipped a beat at hearing the guy's name. It was odd, it didn't really ring a bell, and Loki seemed intimidated by him. I had known immediately that this guy must have the same world domineering plans that Loki had. Loki just believed that he was the rightful ruler, the one with the right to everything the cube could offer them.

"You don't like him, then?"

"He has proven useful." With the army, I assumed. "But no, I am not taken with him." I already wasn't taken with him either. I decided not to press for more information on the guy.

"Is that why you won't stop this? You have some kind of deal with him?" He paused in his pacing to look me in the eyes.

"I will stop this if you come with me."

"You don't mean that," I said, narrowing my eyes. But Loki had that astonishingly sad look on his face, like he'd been brokenhearted all his life (and I suppose in a way he had been). Every time he wasn't clutching that staff for dear life, he seemed on the verge of tears. "What if I think about it?" I clasped my shaking hands together. He walked towards me then and put his hands to my face again. I tried not to shiver. "If you really mean that, can I think about it?"

"Yes," he responded. I closed my eyes forcefully and tried to keep down my dinner. What the hell was I doing?

"I can help you, Loki. I really can. I really want to. You're so much better than this."

"Why?" he breathed, making me look up at him. "You are the only person who cared for me when you did not have to. Why did you ever do that? Why do you believe you could help me now?"

"I see good in you." Under the circumstances, it was genuinely the only thing I could think of and it was probably what was the most honest answer. Well, Clint had told me to be honest and that was what I was doing. At least this conversation had given me and them a whole lot of answers. "You're heartbroken and I completely understand why." Again he seemed to become incredibly sad and I brought my hands to touch his face as he made his hands drop to my shoulders. "I just need the time to think about what to do. My life here is…" I dropped my hands and looked away from him, trying to desperately gather words. "It's just a difficult decision." Loki's fingers pressed into my bare skin and I felt a shock of cold go through me.

"Why? Because of him?" I looked back up at Loki in a daze, my mouth hanging open.

"What?" I practically whispered, my hands starting to have practical tremors running through them. When my breath quickened, I knew he felt it because he backed away from me.

"Do not play coy with me."

"I'm not. I won't. I-I just-"

"I suppose I see what you see in him now. He has some predisposition to be abnormally good and kind." I placed my hand on the counter to hold myself up while my other hand went to trying to smooth out my shirt, as if it needed it. "It is infuriating what he is willing to do for you." I closed my eyes and breathed out.

"Did you talk to Steve while I was unconscious?" I thought I was going to be sick and Loki seemed to grimace when I actually said Steve's name.

"We had an agreement of sorts. He let me see you on the grounds that I did not wreak havoc. I believe he did most of the talking. I was not one for responding to him."

"He is kind," I responded. It was the only response I could have to something like that. I tried to keep my lips closed from that point on as Loki walked back towards me. It seemed like he couldn't keep still. It was as though if he touched me for too long, he'd get agitated with himself.

"I grow tired," said Loki. I nodded. I felt like I was going to throw up. "But you should think long and hard about it. I somewhat fear you are my link to normalcy on this planet." Or to sanity, I thought. "I never dreamed I would feel for you at first but it was astonishingly natural for me. You are so… different." I nodded again, fire beginning to burn deeply in my leg.

"I didn't really think you'd feel for me either. It's pretty weird. But thank you." My nerves were almost shattered. What was I doing?

He bent closer to me, our faces mere millimeters apart, as he pulled me into him. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed myself as close to him as I could. God, this was torture. How did the Avengers expect me to do this without gaining feelings again? Especially these intense feelings of pity? Loki bent into me and I didn't care how cold his skin and even his armor were. That's when I noticed that he moved his hand from my lower back to the top of my left leg and automatically, a wave of something completely doused the heat in my wound. I made a noise and dropped my hands from him.

Before I saw my leg, I noticed the tiny scar on one of my fingers had vanished. Then when I looked down I saw that my leg had already begun to look healthier. When I looked over at Loki, he looked incredibly proud and almost cheerful. He was by far the happiest he'd been the entire time. "Why did you do that?" I said, moving my leg and attempting to see the back of it. He'd obviously given me a stronger dose of magic than the first time because the deep cut on the inside of my thigh was gone. I sucked in my breath and noticed the cut on the backside of my knee was gone too.

"Bend it," Loki said encouragingly. I skittishly tried to and I'm sure my face showed shock plainly because Loki was smiling an actual genuine smile. I almost started crying, I was so happy.

"Thank you," I said, not being able to hide a smile.

"You will need to be up to par for the next time I see you," he responded. His voice had an almost singsong cheer to it. I hadn't heard that since the last time he'd been pushing a buggy in the grocery store in New Mexico.

"Why is that?" An envelope was suddenly on the counter and I walked (without any trouble) to open it. It was an invitation to some sort of gala. I remembered it the minute I saw the writing. Pepper had organized some gala for some of Tony's compatriots. Now all of us were invited. "I forgot about this. It's in three days."

"I plan on being there," he said. I kept reading over the script of the invitation. "We promised to dance together once."

"Yeah, I remember that but I hate to break it to you, I can't dance. You know me, I'm so clumsy and… no one's ever taught me how to dance properly." Besides, if I remembered correctly, Steve was the one with a thing about dancing. His file had a myriad of personal details, one of the few that really did.

"Thor can teach you." I felt like I was bashfully smiling.

"Okay, I'll try to find something to wear and all of us will be there. Just promise me you're gonna play nice." Loki raised his eyebrows.

"Of course and I expect you to have an answer." I nodded, trying to hide my bitter anxiousness. "And if you need persuasion," he said. I didn't have time to think before he'd bent closer to me and pressed his lips against mine, moving one of his hands to entangle in my hair and the other to pull me closer to him. As I started to give in and respond to the uncharacteristically simple, but poignant, kiss, he pulled away and vanished. There was no trace of him. The helmet and the staff were gone without him having grabbed them. I was still frozen to the spot in the kitchen, my fingers touching my lips, when I heard the door to the elevator open, revealing the Avengers.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?


	36. Chapter 36

**Hey ya'll. Omg, I am so sorry it's taken so long for me to update. So much stuff has been happening. And of course, I went to see the Avengers a few times. Speaking of, I'll be moving this story over to the Avengers board soon and I'm thinking of changing it's name just to something easier for me (lord knows, I've been wanting to change the name forever but it was good to wait for the new board to open). Anyway, I hope you enjoy and as always, I only own Charlotte.**

Hearing them walk in made me move. I started storming out of the kitchen, keeping my gaze on the floor. But no matter what, I couldn't not notice my left leg's enormous progress. It was kind of obnoxious how fast it was healing. My fast walking only increased when I caught a slight glimpse of the others. "How about we just talk about this tomorrow? Or never? Either is better than right now," I said, moving to grab the stairwell.

I didn't have the chance because in under a second, Natasha had thrown me against the opposite wall, pressing her forearm into my collarbone. As the back of my head slammed into the wall, I yelped and she demanded, "What the hell was that?" I coughed and strained to push against her but it was futile. I knew her skill set probably more than she did. "You're a traitor!" I made a noise in response.

As my hands clawed at her forearm, I noticed that Bruce and Thor were the only ones slightly concerned for me. "Let me go!" I said, tearing at her brown leather jacket without any success. "Dammit, Natasha, let me go! I'm on your side." She briefly loosened on me before throwing me back again, my shoulder blades getting bruised. "Son of a bitch," I breathed. "I did what I had to! What was I supposed to say when he said he'd stop this shit? Tell him flat out that he's insane for doing it in the first place! Let me go! Damn." She finally moved her arm and I moved my hand to my throat, coughing again. "What the hell? I did what ya'll asked."

"What we asked," started Clint, "was for you to get him stop everything, not for you to take a stroll down memory lane and promise him dances."

"Seriously? What the hell is your problem? I didn't start _any _of that and you all know it. I was nice to him. That's the beginning and the end to what happened. It's the entire reason he even likes me at all; because I'm nice to him." Steve appeared to want to be elsewhere, Thor looked proud of me for whatever reason, Natasha still looked pissed, and I think Bruce was mildly confused. "You know what, just give me the night, like I asked, so that I can develop a freaking plan for Tony's party and then we can talk about everything else."

"Yeah, right," said Tony. "I don't think you're getting away with a night to gather your thoughts here, Aphrodite. Let's get down to business now." I pursed my lips together and crossed my arms.

"Fine," I said, not bothering to address Tony's sickening nickname for me. I walked past the others and leaned against the back of one of the couches. Steve was staring agape at my leg and even Bruce seemed hard-pressed to look away from it. I looked down at it again and almost started laughing. There were going to be no scars from it, that's for sure. "I just don't get what I did wrong. Everything weird was really due to Loki." Clint made a face. "Don't give me that, Clint. I did exactly what you yourself told me to do this morning. In fact, maybe half of this is your fault for talking to me this morning."

"God, I wish I had just stayed in here and killed him while his guard was down," said Tony. "Then everything would've been taken care of and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'm sorry I doubted you, Charlotte. You were right. He can't be helped."

"Yes, he can. At least by my talking to him (which was your idea, might I remind you), we got all sorts of information. We know what those alien things are technically called and we know the name of the guy he's working with. I don't think he'd be shelling that information out while you were trying to blast him with a beam."

"Well, the only reason Loki told you anything is because he plans on you teaming up with him," said Natasha. "That's what I'm mad about." Clint nodded from behind her.

"Again, what the hell was I supposed to say to him? I thought he was gonna vaporize me with his damn spear! He acted more than insane half the time. I thought the point was to play to him and be honest. He would know a lie if I told one."

"The point was to talk him down which obviously isn't gonna happen," said Clint. "There's no way in hell you're going with him." I shook my head at him. "You're actually considering it? What the hell, Charlotte? You'd abandon us for that psychopath?"

"Clint, calm down! I'm saying there might be another way. Ya'll watched the entire thing, right?" I asked. All of them slowly nodded, wondering where my plan was going. "His staff, did you notice that every time he was holding his staff that was when he sounded off his rocker? And it's light pulsed every time I mentioned the cube. At one point, he leaned it against the counter beside me and I felt like it wanted me to touch it. He's got part of the cube at the end of that spear. His buddy, Thanos, has to have the other or Loki's got it somewhere incredibly secure."

"How do you know that for sure?" asked Steve. I shrugged.

"I don't. I just sort of had a feeling about it. And you know, at one point, the cube seemed to be what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to make out like I didn't really know what was going on with it. That reminds me, I need to get into the file rooms badly."

"And why should we let you?" asked Clint.

"Are you being serious right now? They're _my _files, Clint. Are you worried I'm gonna tell Loki that you grew up in a circus and that Natasha used to be a ballerina? Stuff like that doesn't matter. I need to get down in the file rooms first of all, to check my own and then to find out how to handle the tesseract. If we can separate them, we can bring that thing here and finally deal with it. My problem with that happens to be that I don't exactly know how to handle it."

"I thought you knew everything on it," said Tony. I shook my head.

"I mean, I've read Steve's file at least ten times and the one person who could've given insight into the power of the cube got shot off into another realm or something. Sure, I know more than your average person but I'm no expert and I'll bet money that Loki isn't either."

"You read his file ten times?" I shrugged and nodded.

"I thought Red Skull was dead," said Steve.

"I just wouldn't be so sure now that I know about Jotunheim and everything. One of the legends about the tesseract was that it was something Odin left here after taking down the Frost Giants more than a thousand years ago. Now we know that's true. But ya'll have got to trust me. We can get at least that part of it if Loki's distracted."

"That's a longshot though," said Bruce. "There's never a time where he doesn't have the spear close at hand. He's never not holding it."

"He wasn't holding it a whole lot when he was here earlier," said Steve.

"One person was here, someone he really trusts, it's probably the only opportunity we had at getting it. His guard was completely down."

"I really don't care about trying to get the sliver he has inside his staff, if it's even actually in there," said Clint. "There's a much bigger part of it out there, probably with some hideous alien that we're never going to see. Apparently, this Thanos dude just plans on waiting in the shadows." I shook my head.

"What if he doesn't have it? I don't think Loki trusts him. He even said he thinks his partner has an eye on the cube. It's probably why Loki split it in the first place," I said. "I actually don't think he's got it."

"I don't trust a damn thing that's coming out of his mouth," said Tony. "I think this party idea is just a ploy to get us there all together without weapons and take us out and kidnap Charlotte, regardless of what she wants."

"He's not gonna try anything there, as long as we play to him."

"You don't know that for sure," said Natasha.

"I'm not trying to say we shouldn't be prepared but I don't think we should give off a vibe that says we're ready to take him on. For all we know, he plans on it being a pleasant evening and wants to have peace talks with Fury." Natasha crossed her arms in response, clearly not caring about what I had to say. "If you think I'm a traitor, that's fine. I'm used to it. If you don't believe me when I say there's hope for this then believe what you saw. You're all talking like there's nothing we can do now when there obviously is. Did you even look at Loki during that conversation?"

"Charlotte is right," said Thor, finally speaking. "Loki is broken and that is why he has done these things. We have the time to complete a plan. She accomplished what was asked of her brilliantly." You know, Clint and Tony made a huge joke of how endearingly dumb Thor was but whenever he was talking about me, he sounded like a genius.

"Thanks, Thor. I'm glad to have someone on my side," I said. "But seriously, his emotions were the reason I even got onto the idea of Loki having some part of the cube in his spear. When he wasn't holding that thing, it looked like he was about to have a breakdown."

"Under normal circumstances, I would say the guy just needs a hug but obviously, these aren't normal circumstances," said Clint.

"I think he needs to get laid," muttered Tony. Clint laughed.

"Maybe Charlotte's right," said Bruce. "We all saw the way he acted. Maybe she's cracking him. If we bring in Thor as her backup, we may have him."

"He'll have to see Thor anyway," I said. "At the gala."

"But he may not react to that the way we'd want him to," said Steve. "I think Thor is going to be shaky ground for him. It could be one of two extremes; the one we're hoping for or a massacre." I shrugged. Steve made a good point. Deep down, Loki still cared for Thor but that didn't exactly mean a confrontation was a good idea. But a public place would be better than on a battlefield in Manhattan.

"Well, Loki at the gala has nothing to do with Thor," said Tony, turning to me.

"Loki's the one who suggested I go. I didn't realize all of us were invited in the first place," I said. "It's got nothing to do with me either. I think all of us being there at the same time is pretty much by chance."

Tony shook his head. "There's something up with that. Why would he even want to be there in the first place? To kidnap Pepper and threaten us? She won't even be there. Nobody he would care about besides the seven of us will be there. There's no point." I clasped my hands together again.

"Well, what if this is something to do with the cube?" asked Clint. "Think about it. You said he wants some place for it to be secure."

"Why would he put it in Stark's building?" asked Steve.

"It's a distraction," said Natasha. "He's putting it somewhere else in the city but wants us all in a completely different place. Or he's just stalling and it's already somewhere else." I turned to stare at her. She might just be right.

"Well, how will we know where it is?" asked Bruce. "Who could we send to get it?" I shook my head and I noticed Steve was staring over at me.

"Charlotte's right," said Steve. "I don't think we should do anything that night. He's expecting all of us to be there now and we can't send some regular agent to find it. They don't know anything about the cube."

"Neither do I," said Tony. "And I would appreciate more than a base knowledge. I barely know a thing."

"Then I suggest you actually let me into the file rooms and let me do some digging," I said. "I'm the only person that really knows my way around down there. I don't care if you think I'm a traitor but I am completely on your side. You have to believe me on this. I did what I had to. I'm not gonna drop ya'll for him." Natasha shrugged, obviously still not wanting to do anything with me. But Steve and Thor nodded. I felt like doing a fist pump. I needed the two of them on my side. I really needed their approval. Tony and Clint looked at each other before nodding. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Clint and I will take you down there," said Bruce. Bruce and Clint had taken turns running and fetching files for Fury and Phil. Clint was the one who had basically taken up my job of taking sporadic notes on every person S.H.I.E.L.D. came into contact with. "It's better if we do it while it's still dark." I nodded.

"I'm down, let's go." I walked past Tony and got in line with Clint and Bruce, as Clint pushed the elevator button. My leg felt like there was nothing wrong with it, even though there was still an obvious flesh injury.

When the doors opened and the three of us stepped on, I heard Natasha mutter, "I don't trust her." As the door closed behind us, I pressed my fingers to my temple and sighed. I can't say that I wasn't used to my coworkers not trusting me but I couldn't deal with it now, especially when I was extra-confused about my life.

"She'll apologize for throwing you around a bit," said Clint. "It's all in time. She's probably just frustrated."

"I don't blame her at all," I said. "I kinda deserve it." I crossed my arms, shifting weight to my right leg even though there was no need to. "Was hers the general opinion of the rest of the group?"

"I think we were all a little bit in shock when you decided to think on the idea of going with him," said Bruce. "But you did say to take the things you said with a grain of salt." I nodded.

"If it's the only way, though… I have to consider it. But I think we need to get that spear away from him. Were ya'll able to analyze it the last time he was here?" Bruce shook his head.

"He was able to keep it hidden pretty nicely."

"And he was barely here for more than 12 hours," said Clint. "We wouldn't have had the time."

"Well, where does it go when it's not with him?" Bruce asked.

"Back to that other alien?" suggested Clint.

"I don't know," I said, as I felt the elevator come to a halt. "But he can summon his armor and the rest of that leather outfit magically. Where does that stuff go? Maybe he's got a different system that we don't know about that sort of keeps stuff with him. That's got to be how he got out of that holding room because in the end, he did have the scepter."

Bruce and Clint led me off of the elevator and we quietly moved to the file rooms. "I'll keep watch while the two of you do your research," said Clint. "We'll talk about this later." We nodded and walked into the darkened file room after Clint handed us flashlights. He had been more than prepared for this.

Bruce and I split up, with him looking for information on the tesseract and with me trying to find my own file. After rummaging through several drawers I saw my name emblazoned on the flap of a manila folder. I pulled it out after memorizing where it had been placed and then started going through the pages. Something told me Loki hadn't been lying when he'd said that about S.H.I.E.L.D. not swiping my record. I didn't know what I'd do when I knew for certain but deep down, I honestly knew that I would have to officially leave S.H.I.E.L.D. I didn't originally want to but this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. I'd put up with their mess for far too long. Now that my identity had been revealed to the public, I was freshly pissed at Director Fury and the other higher-ups.

My file would've been an interesting read if I'd had the time to really look through it. I saw pictures of me throughout my life, paper-clipped to random pages that described my habits. I was overwhelmingly clumsy, I couldn't cook, I had a weak tolerance for alcohol, and I had a sometimes abrasive personality that was overpowered by moments of motherly intuition regarding two members of the Avengers Initiative and one of the company's many enemies. They seemed to think that I was protective of Steve and Thor but most of all, protective of Loki. I couldn't necessarily say that it wasn't true. One could argue that Clint and Tony were my real friend group, given how much we teased each other and the fact that they'd saved my life not a week ago, but having to teach Steve and Thor things about the 21st century had endeared them to me in a way that Tony and Clint would never be. On the battlefield, all six of the Avengers were up to par and could take care of themselves but off, Steve and Thor were lost most of the time.

My file included a chronicling of the miniscule facts they had of my relationship with Loki. Mostly, those papers seemed to focus on the body language we had around each other because that's what they had to go on. Loki seemed to relax around me, like he trusted me enough to let his heavy guard down, while I tensed up and constantly had to reassure myself that he was there. Given, what they had to go on with my body language was after he'd hurt me. Beforehand, I'm sure they would've had a very different picture of me.

"Bruce, Charlotte," we heard Clint say. "Just grab the files and come on. We can't stay down here." I closed mine and shoved it underneath my arm, wishing I'd brought my massive purse. Before I closed the drawer my file had been in, my flashlight shown on a number of things I'd never seen before. My mouth dropped open a bit as I began pulling folders out that I'd never read. They were on weapons that I thought vaguely looked like things from Hydra. I stuffed them under my arm too, my anger increasing. Then my eyes focused on a name on a flap in the back of the drawer. It obviously wasn't meant to be found and it was called, "The Winter Soldier." My eyes widened. What the hell was that? "Charlotte! We need to go!" I shoved the drawer shut without grabbing that file and jumped up, heading to go to the elevator.

We made it to the elevator without any interruption and all three of us breathed a sigh of relief when the doors closed. "Guys," I said, "there's something that they're not telling us." Clint raised his eyebrows and I flipped open one of the weapon files. Bruce took it from my hand immediately and began flipping through.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

"They were behind my file in a bottom drawer of one of the cabinets. Something's up because to begin with, my file wasn't in the employees' area like it should've been. Secondly, I've never seen these files before and I have worked here for years. Even if I didn't write them, I should've had access to them. I guarantee you that I should've seen everything in that room before. All of these files I grabbed are on weapons and something called Phase 2. Have you ever heard of that?" Bruce shook his head but Clint looked conflicted.

"It sounds familiar," said Clint, "but I can't be sure."

"Then lemme ask you something else, have you ever heard of something called the 'Winter Soldier?' I didn't have the chance to pick up the file." Clint shook his head.

"I've never heard of anything like that and I've been in the file rooms plenty of times. But it sounds like a person." I nodded and clutched the file when Bruce gave it back to me. For whatever reason, the idea of this "Winter Soldier" gave me the creeps. Then again, the idea of stepping off the elevator and seeing Steve was making me feel like puking so I couldn't decide what the worse of two evils was. "Group meeting!" Clint called as he stepped off the elevator.

I immediately strode into the kitchen, scattering the weapons files over the counter of the island and tried to forget that less than an hour ago, Loki had been where I was standing. I then proceeded to open my own file up, my hands shaking as they flew through the pictures. I noticed Thor had moved to stand beside me and I felt warmth on my other side, recognizing that it was Steve reaching across me to grab a weapon file. "What the hell is this?" Steve asked as he pulled out a picture. I glanced up only because Steve had to be extremely angry to cuss. Tony was poring over a file with Bruce, the two geniuses putting their minds together. "It looks like stuff from Hydra."

"They want to use the cube to make weapons," said Tony.

"Why?" asked Thor.

"It says it's because of knowledge of Asgard in this file," said Clint. "Your technology is far beyond ours." I shook my head. S.H.I.E.L.D. was overplaying their hand.

"Our two realms are not at all different," said Thor. But they were. Asgard had magic, something that Earth would probably never dream of possessing. It made sense for S.H.I.E.L.D. to want to make weapons but it simply wasn't okay to want the cube for that. The cosmic cube needed to be far away from humans. It had unlimited power. I was sorry to think it but I thought that Thor ought to take it back to Asgard and Odin could deal with it.

I shook my head and went back to fumbling through my file again. I felt Steve move closer to me and I understood that he wanted to know nearly as badly as I did. I flipped through pages that detailed my relationship with each of the Avengers and other people, including Loki. With my hands shaking, I pulled out the papers that showed my relationship with Steve. It showed what I would've expected it to show, including elements of body language that reminded me of what I'd read about Loki downstairs. I relaxed around Steve and clearly favored him over the others. Had they been adding body language profiles to everyone's folders? I put that page back where I'd found it when I realized that both Steve and Thor were reading it over my shoulders.

I vaguely heard the others talking about the folders I'd found but I would worry about those later. I breathed out when I finally found transcripts, including that terrible thing called a criminal record. I groaned when I began reading over it; guilty of housing an international fugitive, guilty of breaking and entering, guilty of hacking into a government agency's security system (with all due respect, Steve is the one who did that). "Dammit," I said, closing the file and scooting it away from me. "He wasn't lying."

"That's a first," said Steve. I heard a noise from Thor that echoed my own feelings.

"It's been a long enough night for everyone and we've got a press conference in the morning," said Clint. "We should go to bed and worry about this tomorrow."

"Well, we're confronting them about making weapons," said Tony. Steve nodded in response, finally agreeing with something Tony said. I watched Bruce gather all of the files together and I quickly told him the cabinet and drawer they'd been in. Putting them back before sunrise was a good plan of action. After Bruce left, the rest of us scattered into our various rooms. Clint was still mildly complaining about not switching rooms with Thor and Thor himself looked as conflicted as I felt.

I stood in the threshold between my room and Steve's before approaching him to apologize. "I'm sorry," I said from the doorway when he turned and noticed that I was there. "I wasn't thinking when I was talking to Loki." I'd had an outline of a plan in my head but that didn't really matter. Since Loki had been willing to really talk to me, I thought it was only fair that I return that favor.

Steve crossed his arms, which only served to make them appear bigger. He didn't look irritated or even surprised like the rest of them had been. Maybe he realized I did what I had to or maybe he just knew me well enough to know that I wasn't lying. "I feel sorry for him too," was Steve's only response.

"So it's true what Loki told me. You really did let him see me." That really made me feel like being sick. If the tables had been turned and I had been in Steve's position, I would've killed Loki. Well, maybe not. Not if I knew how much they cared for each other. Gosh, this was making my head hurt.

"It was the right thing to do. He wasn't going to hurt anyone right then. You're the only person he has. I sympathize with him." Of course, Steve sympathized with Loki. That's the kind of person he is.

"I won't go with him," I said, sort of making a promise not only to myself but to the rest of the Avengers. "I'm sorry ya'll thought I would." Steve shook his head at me. He trusted me but then again, he had to. He had to trust the six other people in this penthouse. We were his team. Maybe I wasn't explicitly a part of that but it did matter.

"Well, it wouldn't be smart if you didn't consider all of the options. I wasn't angry about it, certainly not as angry as Natasha got." I shrugged. Natasha would come around but she was very plan-oriented and professional. I ran on impulse. We would butt heads sooner or later. Besides, she had been right in getting mad at me.

"I think it's a bad idea to go after him at Tony's gala. I'll do my best with him but if ya'll are sincerely thinking about investigating the tesseract while we're there, I suggest you play it very safe. I doubt Tony would take kindly to us tearing apart his newly remodeled building." Steve nodded.

"I'd already thought of that. We'll probably have an Avengers meeting after the press conference where we talk about strategy. My only concern is what we tell Fury and what we don't."

"That's something for the rest of you to figure out," I responded, "but if you have to tell them about Loki and everything else, I think holding those weapons over their heads might be a good start."

"Speaking of that," said Steve, "why don't you and I do some… what did you call it?"

"Snooping?" I supplied. Steve nodded.

"Yeah, snooping down in their rooms. I know Tony's got Jarvis working through their security but that goes a little slow for me. If we could find a prototype, that would be better than anything else." I ran my fingers through my short hair. It was a good idea and it wasn't too late in the night. Now that my leg had mostly healed, I figured it was worth a shot.

"I'm down for it." Loki had been a friend to us when he knocked out those cameras. Maybe I should've thanked him.

Steve and I went down the stairs quietly, which made me feel like we were breaking some sort of rules of the penthouse; forget breaking rules of the company. When we reached the elevator, it's doors opened, revealing Bruce. He'd been downstairs, putting the files away before anyone noticed that they'd gone missing. Unfortunately, he hadn't found out anything valuable on handling the tesseract, not that I really we would.

Steve nodded at him as Bruce walked off but I knew there was something up with him. As Steve stepped on the elevator, Bruce gripped my arm before I could move past him. "I don't know what you're doing but we need to talk," he said to me hastily. I felt a bit of panic rise in me when his grip tightened. "It's about the 'Winter Soldier.' I looked at the file." My eyes widened and Bruce let me go. I got on the elevator without a word.

Steve had a look of surprise on his face but he didn't ask which I was grateful for. Steve was probably the only one who was regularly conscientious of the fact that Bruce could turn into the Hulk at any second. He was constantly reprimanding Tony for antagonizing Bruce but deep down, I trusted Bruce's abilities to keep it contained as I'm sure Tony did. After my speech to him on the helicarrier where I told him to treat the Hulk like a muscle and like they were one person instead of two, I think the change had been a lot easier for Bruce. If he relaxed, he wasn't so concerned that he would kill one of us. And Tony had been more than encouraging which was unusual for him. I think Tony was just glad to have someone on his intellectual level on the team.

I stood closer to Steve on the elevator than was actually necessary. I was worried about what Bruce had seen down in the file rooms. The idea of the "Winter Soldier" had already given me the creeps but now that Bruce had skimmed the guy's file, there was no telling what he found out. He clearly thought it was something that only the two of us should know (maybe he was including Clint too but I wasn't sure about that) and if we couldn't talk about it with the others, I was going to be cautious. Obviously, he'd found out something fairly dangerous. Like we needed something else besides Loki and his army to worry about.

My head began pounding like I was having a migraine and I wondered whether that was from being tired or being utterly overwhelmed. "I know you love Loki," Steve said from beside me. God, now I truly was going to be sick. These situations never went well with me. "And I know that he cares for you. I'm truly sorry for everything you've been put through." I shook my head and stared at the elevator clicking down numbers. Steve had obviously had this on his mind and I wasn't about to interrupt him. What would I have said anyway? "I hope he stops this, for your sake and for Thor's." Oh no, he'd been speaking with Thor about it.

Thor and Steve had been making use of their free time by hanging out with each other and learning the ways of the 21st century together. No matter what I'd taught either of them, there was always something I'd left out. Apparently, when I'd been knocked out, the two of them managed to break the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility's microwave because what they'd put in there didn't even remotely resemble food. And of course, when Steve had discovered webcams last week, the two of them took incredibly unflattering pictures of each other (which I had thought was impossible) by getting too close to the screen. They were adorably naïve. But not once did I think they'd been heart-to-hearting over Loki.

"Have you talked to Thor about Loki?" I asked. Steve nodded in response. "He loves him a lot. I wish Loki could realize that."

"But he knows how badly Loki is hurting and he knows it's all to do with him. Maybe the three of you need to talk."

"Yeah, in an insane asylum," I retorted. Nowhere in the universe would Thor, Loki, and I sit down and be able to talk civilly. Thor and Loki would tear each other apart, unintentionally on Thor's part. "Maybe when we capture Loki we can give him court ordered therapy sessions. He desperately needs those."

The elevator doors opened and Steve and I walked toward a storage room that held things waiting to be moved to the helicarrier. As Steve strained to open the locked door, I stood back at his bequest with my mind on other things. Sure, it was important to find prototypes of practical Hydra weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to make from the power of the cosmic cube but that wasn't my business and I knew that. My business was with Steve and Loki. Steve had been incredibly nice about Loki from the get-go aside from a few slanted comments, that I didn't blame him for. Thor and I were the only ones who probably even cared about Loki's wellbeing. At least, Steve and Clint admitted that they felt bad for him.

I hadn't been trying to make them pity Loki. I could only imagine how livid Loki would be if he knew that people like Steve and Clint pitied him. But I had wanted the others to understand what had happened to him and why he became the way he is. Hell, if I'd known him and Thor before Loki sent the Destroyer, I likely would've rooted for Loki. Maybe Loki nor Steve wanted to admit it but they came from very similar backgrounds; they just went the opposite way from each other on the moral map.

I heard the door creak and I realized that Steve had broken it off it's hinges. "Good job," I said. I knew Steve's strengths and how he fought but very rarely did I see them in real life and not from old footage or on paper.

Steve gave me a smile and told me that we needed to split up. As I looked at my side of the incredibly large storage room, I noticed there weren't stairs that led up to the balcony of crates. The crates were, of course, the things containing supplies and where I would've assumed the weapons would be. As I hastily found a ladder, that was no doubt going to be shaky, I saw Steve jump and propel himself over the railing of the balcony. He immediately set to work opening crates and I set to climbing the ladder. Getting back down it would be the problem.

As I opened one of the boxes, I heard a noise from Steve and I knew he'd found something. I dropped the lid on my crate, careful to make sure it looked like it hadn't been disturbed, and ran to the other side. Steve pulled out what looked exactly like the drawings from the folders. I sighed out. Steve was clearly angry and I didn't blame him. They'd been lying to all of us about one thing or another. It was mainly why we'd begun acting without them.

The two of us exchanged a look and he took the odd looking gun and jumped over the railing to get back down on the ground. I hesitantly put my legs over the railing and gripped the top pole before Steve put the gun on the ground beside him and prepared to help me get down. I let go of the railing only when I was absolutely positive he was ready and Steve made sure I didn't fall flat on the concrete floor. That would've wasted the magic Loki had used to heal my leg. "Thanks," I said and we headed out, no longer caring if they knew we'd been in there. Steve was going to throw the gun in their faces tomorrow after the press conference. There was no doubt.

When we got back on the elevator, both of us set to looking over the gun he'd found. "There were lots of others like it," said Steve.

"What is it supposed to do?" I asked.

"That's what I'd like to know." With power from the cube, I could only guess that it would be able to vaporize someone. Just like Hydra. I did not like the similarities that were happening here. Not at all.

Even though it had been a weird trip, I enjoyed doing stuff one-on-one with Steve. We rarely got to do that anymore; at least, not since we'd been forcibly living together out in New Mexico and back then, the stuff we did one-on-one was talk about things that were uncomfortable for both of us. There was the one time I bawled my eyes out and we ended up sleeping on top of each other on that ratty couch. But probably one of the weirdest things we'd done was when Steve had to pull the arrow out of me in that office building. Maybe they weren't the best memories to fall back on. Maybe I should try to remember the first time I tried explaining a computer to Steve. That was probably the most hilarious moment.

When we got off the elevator I noticed that Bruce was waiting up, pacing the living room. Steve bumped me and I knew it wasn't by accident. He suspected something was up with Bruce. I shrugged. "Lemme talk to him and I'll come to bed soon," I said quietly. Steve nodded, carrying the abnormal gun with him. "Bruce," I hissed as I walked towards him. Bruce stopped in his pacing to look over at me and immediately seemed happier.

"You are not going to believe this," he said. He was looking around him constantly, as though he was worried Steve was going to pop back out at any minute. "The Winter Soldier is a person. It's a codename just like everyone else has." I can't believe I hadn't come to that conclusion yet. But codenames were usually reserved for heroes and Bruce was clearly uncomfortable with this. "I saw the guy's real name but it's escaped me."

"Would we know him?" I asked.

"Steve would," he responded, obviously waiting for something to click with me. When I gave him a confused look, he continued. "He apparently knew him in the war and they were close." My headache only got worse.

"I don't understand. Most everyone he knew from the forties is dead, especially anyone he was close to. If they are alive, they can't do much damage." Bruce shook his head.

"This man fell off a train in Germany. He was Steve's best friend." Again my mind started clouding over but this time I was searching for a name.

"Bucky," I breathed. "How did he survive a fall like that? He was presumed dead. Wait, how come I don't know about this guy? How come none of us do?" Bruce shrugged.

"He lost his arm in the fall, that I remember reading and this Russian organization found him. They gave him a bionic arm and apparently, he had pretty bad amnesia. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants him but I have no idea whether they've been in contact with him. I think he's recently come back into some of his memories and that's why S.H.I.E.L.D. wants him." This wasn't making any sense to me whatsoever. Bucky should be dead, otherwise why hadn't they told Steve about any of this? Why didn't regular agents of this company know about him? Clint and I had long ago earned their trust. We should've known about something like this years ago. Before they found Steve, there should've been no reason at all for not telling us.

"I still don't understand it," I said.

"This is not something I would mention to anyone. Obviously, they did not want that file to be found and evidently, the Winter Soldier is an efficient spy. The years between now and then have seen him doing some pretty weird things."

"Is he still young? I can't imagine they'd be trying to recruit him now if he wasn't."

"He is still young. By all accounts, he's maybe aged five years in all this time. Some sort of chemical helps him stay that way. That's all I read."

"Is he dangerous?" Bruce nodded.

"He definitely can be."

"God, why haven't they told Steve about this? When I was first working with him, they said from the get-go that literally no one he knew back then was still alive, let alone Bucky. I don't care if he's an assassin now, I think Steve deserved to know."

"I wouldn't tell him. I don't know what it was about the file but I don't think telling Steve is a brilliant idea. In fact, I don't think this guy is a threat to us at all. The file obviously hadn't been touched in a while. For all we know, they haven't looked into him since Russia was still the U.S.S.R." Bruce was right and I knew that. I should be hesitant on anything I found down in those rooms and no matter what I saw down there, I was sworn to keep it to myself unless there was something incredibly off. I think the weapons files I'd found counted in that category.

"Okay, I understand. We won't mention it." Bruce nodded. Clearly, he just thought telling me would be the right thing to do since I'd been curious. I appreciated it.

After the weird train of events that was my night, I got in bed and tried to forget everything. No Winter Soldier, no weapons, no unresolved feelings for Loki. I needed to focus on what I was going to say to a panel of journalists and TV hosts in the morning. Maybe they would avoid asking so many questions of me and Thor. Maybe Thor and I could just stand in the background, like pretty chess pieces.

No, that would never work.

Clint jumped on my bed the next morning in a wild attempt to wake me up. He and Steve began laughing when I groggily pushed myself up and noticed that my hair was sticking in all sorts of directions. I made a face and scrambled out of bed, noticing my leg was completely healed. The press conference was at 11am and it was now 9:30. I barely had seven hours of sleep. Although, as my past could tell you, I work extremely well when I'm tired.

Steve was already dressed in one of his button up shirts tucked into khaki pants and his blonde hair parted on the side. It was a usual look for him and one that worked really well. I had noticed since I'd woken up from being unconscious for a couple of days that Steve had begun to really get along with everyone. I didn't know what had done it, since he'd never exactly been hated before that, but the entire team had begun looking up to him. Steve had been the right call to make as leader.

I straightened my hair in the bathroom, while reading over the guidelines S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent us on how to act, and Natasha's haircut for me was well suited thanks to my new bangs and the angle it was cut at. I dressed in an emerald green blouse with a deep blue blazer over it. I was lucky to own so many office clothes.

When I walked down the stairs into our living room, I remembered that these people were going to know my name. I did not want to do this. At least it was an excuse to dress well and go out on the town with the group. Thor was wearing a shirt I'd bought him tucked into black pants. Steve had obviously helped him get dressed. Natasha was wearing all black with red accents. She clearly wasn't excited about this either. Clint was standing beside her, looking prim for once. Bruce looked muddled in his clothes but he was always wearing a button up with khakis. And then, of course, there was Tony wearing an immaculate suit and making the rest of us look like goons.

"Your outfit is completely outdated! Why did they ever let you go shopping with Charlotte? You are never gonna get laid if you keep dressing like this!" Tony was always down on Steve's clothing choices. When I had been helping him get accustomed to the new world, I bought him clothes that were comfortable for him and not too wild. Besides, no one took the time to look very nice anymore. At least Steve wanted to. Tony looked like a playboy. "And now look at what you've done to Thor!" Thor looked down at himself, wondering what was wrong with his outfit. Other than the fact that he was obviously uncomfortable in Midgardian clothes, Thor thought he looked fine.

"Well, you take them shopping when this is over," I said.

"I have never seen your hair straight before," Tony said to me before turning back. "But Steve, seriously, untuck your shirt. You look ridiculous." Steve looked down, confused. He didn't see anything wrong with what he was wearing.

Natasha rolled her eyes and hit the elevator button. "Let's get this over with," she said. I nodded in agreement.

"How is your leg?" Thor asked, as I stood beside him behind the other Avengers. I looked down at it, as if I could see damage through my black office pants.

"It was totally healed when I got up," I responded. "He used more magic than he did the first time." Thor nodded and gave me a goofy grin that I couldn't help smiling back at.

All seven of us rode in a S.H.I.E.L.D. van to the area where the reporters were assembled. It looked like we would be sitting on a stage inside Tony's building with the journalists in front of us. This was my first experience with a press conference and I certainly hoped it would be my last. I had other things to worry about than my public image or what my mom was going to think when she saw me wielding a vibranium shield on television.

People were waiting outside of his building to catch a glimpse of us in regular clothes. I swear, this was the closest thing to celebrity I would ever achieve and I was being unnatural and praying they didn't take any notice of me whatsoever. People would kill to be in my position and I needed to remember to stay positive anyway.

I followed Thor out of the car and people were screaming. Tony walked down the sidewalk toward his building as though they'd laid out the red carpet. In a way, I suppose they had. They had roped it off enough that the seven of us would be able to walk into the building. My mind went into overdrive, trying to remember all sorts of rules. Don't mention S.H.I.E.L.D. or the helicarrier or any of their real names, aside from Tony's. Don't act suspicious. Just act normal, pretend I'm talking to someone one-on-one.

I was breaking into a sweat on the otherwise crisp morning as my eyes scanned the crowd lined up on either side of the walkway. I was going to be sick. Tony was signing autographs and Clint looked like he was going to start working the crowd. I felt Steve nudge me and I started walking with him in a daze. I saw lights flashing and people taking pictures of us. Were we required to stop and take press photos? Why couldn't I remember the memo they'd sent to us? I felt like I was literally losing my mind.

Before I'd noticed it, Thor had wrapped his arm around me and pulled Steve towards my other side. Thor was grinning and looking at someone so I did it too, realizing Thor wanted a photo of the three of us. I didn't know how it turned out but at least, there was one picture out there where I didn't look like a deer in the headlights. Steve placed his hand around my upper arm and helped guide me up to the stairs in front of Stark Towers. I noticed Phil following us down the walkway and I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed him here. Clint moved to my other side.

"You look scared to death," he whispered while we waited for the others. Natasha was coyly making her way up now. Thor was standing beside Steve, looking jolly.

"Oh, believe me, I am," I said back. I had genuinely thought I might faint if Steve hadn't grabbed my arm. He had a weird way of making me feel steady. "Steve, I'm gonna sit beside you," I said over at him. Steve nodded like he figured that had been the plan all along. I would need the moral support of having him next to me when they began asking questions.

"Kent," I heard Phil say as he arrived in front of us. I turned to look at him, noticing Steve still had a grip on my arm. "How are you walking so well?" I choked. Steve's grip on my arm tightened, Clint made an undistinguishable noise, and I pulled it together fast.

"They had some of that ointment at the facility," I responded. "You know that kind from New Mexico that was such a great help? They just gave me a bigger dosage this time." I gave a sweet smile that I hoped conveyed innocence and the fact that I knew everything that was going on all at once. Phil made a face in response.

"Oh, of course," he said back. Steve's grip relaxed, much to my relief, and I felt Clint calm down beside me.

"You're such a trickster," whispered Clint. That caused me to give a real smile. For whatever reason, that was the greatest compliment anyone could have given me right then.

Once all of us had arrived at the top of the steps, our picture was taken together and then we were led inside. Just as I had suspected, we were sitting on a makeshift stage on stools with the reporters sitting in the audience. I took a stool beside Steve on the end and when I crossed my legs, I noticed Phil looking at them suspiciously. He didn't like what had happened at all. Well, just wait until Steve shows him what he found last night.

My mind drifted as preliminary introductions were given, giving everyone's codename except mine. They wanted to go through us one by one and since I was at the end, I had plenty of time to think. I prayed Phil was going to manage to cut down the amount of questions Thor got. The way he spoke alone would tell everyone that he wasn't from around here.

Tony went first, flirting a little with the female reporters and telling sarcastic jokes to the others. Everyone knew so much about Iron Man already, they just wanted to know why he'd decided on a team. Bruce was next and he seemed to be the audience favorite. But Bruce barely gave a straight answer to any of their questions. Natasha got a few questions about her abilities and where she was from as well as date offers. Clint joked a bit but for the most part, played it like he was the silent type. Thor didn't really understand most of his questions. Yes, he hit stuff with a giant hammer and resembled a god. What of it? (Thor must've gotten a different set of rules than the rest of us) But when he was the first person asked about the villain himself, Thor froze. I wanted to prompt him in my head but it was no use.

"He is… He is difficult," Thor began. "He is strong but he will be stopped." After a pause that had seemed to last at least five minutes (and in press conference time, that was too long), Thor had given a fairly good answer.

Steve was next and he didn't appear nervous at all. He was rivaling Tony for being the coolest about this. Of course, Steve used to have to do shows and small films back in the forties. He was used to this sort of thing and better than that, he was good at it. His answers were polite and precise. He knew what they wanted to hear and he played to it. I envied Steve in situations like this one and in fighting. He was in control so much of the time that I found it odd he was the most awkward of us at home.

He clearly came off as the leader of the group and the reporters loved it. In fact, they seemed to forget to ask him whether he just took up the shield or was actually the guy. Whatever, that was an incredibly great question to dodge for Steve's sake. As he finished his last question, he gave me a reassuring smile and I nodded at him. Of course, I doubted this small interaction went unnoticed by the press.

"Ms. Kent," one of the reporters asked, "what made you decide to fight with the Avengers?" I breathed out slowly. I could do this. Thor was grinning at me over Steve's shoulder and Steve nodded at me.

"I, uh, I was just doing my job," I responded. That clearly wasn't the answer they were looking for so I decided to make up for it. "The threat is a large one, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, and they needed the help. I'd be more than happy to do it again."

"Ms. Kent," another man said, "why were you disguised as Captain America? Why not any of the other members of the team?" I smiled at that question. I hadn't had a choice but they didn't know that.

"He's my closest friend of the Avengers. I could mimic him the best out of the others." As I had guessed, our small moment of him reassuring me hadn't gone unnoticed. Some of the reporters were smiling slyly at this point. What was better than a group of superheroes? A group of superheroes that were dating each other.

"Were you injured terribly? Iron Man flew you out, correct?" asked someone else, this time a woman. Tony was smiling triumphantly at saving my life and I shook my head.

"Indeed, he did but no, I was not injured as badly as I'm sure it looked on TV. I definitely need some motorcycle lessons." It hadn't been meant to be a joke but the press took it as one and laughed. "But no, not really." What an absolute lie. I had been knocked out for days and my leg was shredded.

"What kind of training have you had that prepared you?" asked a man.

"I've had no real training. At least, not the kind my colleagues have had. Captain America here had given me gun lessons prior though so I wasn't completely unready." This was going much better than expected. But they hadn't asked the questions I was dreading answering yet.

And then the first one came. "Are you dating anyone?" asked a woman coyly. She'd asked every single one of the Avengers the same question and I had known it was coming but I choked on that one as well. A new piece of information would be added to my file after today and it would say, does not do well under pressure.

"No, I am… I am not," I responded hesitantly. Obviously, I was single. Why couldn't I say it? Well, maybe I wasn't single. Maybe I was emotionally compromised.

The woman who'd asked me stared between Steve and I like we were hiding the biggest story of her career. Well, honey, what if you knew I'd been with guy tearing New York to the ground? That might surpass asking the Avengers who they were dating.

"Have you encountered the man behind these attacks?" said the same reporter who'd asked Thor. I froze and looked to my right. All six of the Avengers were staring at me. Steve gave me a pleading look and I turned back.

"Yes," I said, honestly. Conversation broke out among the journalists. This was the juiciest piece of news yet. They were hoping I'd give them insight and that wasn't my plan at all. Once they'd quieted down, they stared at me expectantly and I gulped. "He will be stopped, I'll assure you of that."

"No more questions," called Phil and the press broke out into chatter as the seven of us stood up to take our leave.


	37. Chapter 37

**Hey guys! So this used to be 'Charlotte' on the Thor board but I finally got around to changing the name and moving it to the Avengers board. I'm grateful for all of the new readers. I hope you enjoy and I'm looking forward to hearing from you. As usual, I own nothing but Charlotte.**

All of us left Stark Tower quickly. I had been sickeningly nervous about the conference and all in all, it had gone very well. They didn't ask me any question that completely threw me for a loop. My breathing was back to a normal speed and I tilted my head down when we walked by the masses of photographers and other people that were still scrambling to see us. Once inside one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vehicles, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. I had gotten through it without puking everywhere.

None of us said much on the way back, other than that there was going to be an Avengers only meeting when we arrived. I expected that that would be a firecracker of an event, given what all of us had discovered the night before. Once back at headquarters, I gave the six of them a nod and I headed to the apartment. Once inside, I got onto one of Tony's many laptops and started playing around on clothing websites.

The invitation to the gala in hand, I searched for dresses that would be considered appropriate for a black-tie affair. Nothing short, of course. Nothing too over the top. I settled on an emerald green floor length silky dress that was one-shouldered. Silk was not a forgiving fabric by nature but it certainly was not skin tight. But it was dark green. It was my go-to color because it matched my eyes but now it sort of went along with Loki. Oh, what the hell is my problem? It's a color. It's not like I'm going to walk out there in matching armor. What would that achieve?

I forced my bangs out of my face as I continued looking, now for the appropriate shoes. Gold would be classy, right? I actually owned gold shoes anyway. Anything to save myself money. Gold and green complimented each other extremely well.

I was still online shopping in the kitchen when I heard the elevator doors open. I was searching through my huge purse for my wallet as Thor walked in, rummaging through the cabinets. I hastily keyed in my information and the card number so that they could charge it and looked at the watch Tony had given me. I was going to get a deal for shopping in this timeframe. As a rule, I generally didn't like online shopping because it sucks away the experience but I was in no way opposed to their deals.

I heard a commotion behind me as I shut down Tony's laptop. "PopTarts are on the top shelf in the cabinet to the left of the sink, Thor," I said. I felt like I had to keep a constant eye on them because Thor would make meals out of boxes of PopTarts. I heard him grumble a response and I quickly looked out into the living room before turning back to Thor. "Can you seriously help me learn how to dance?" I asked quickly. Thor slowly turned to look down at me and he nodded, with a sly grin on his face. "It's not like that!" I laughed a little. I had just bought a dress for the occasion; a dress that would complement Loki's style.

Thor clapped me on the back in a jesting sort of way, laughing about it, and it pushed me forward from sheer force. "Of course I will teach you," he responded.

"That's great," I responded in an almost moan. "But, uh, you mind if we keep this-" I was going to say 'down low' but I never got the chance, not that Thor would've understood the phrase anyway.

"I am going to teach Charlotte to dance, my friends!" Thor boasted loudly before crossing the threshold into the living room. I leaned forward onto the counter, my fists burrowing into my forehead.

"Never mind, just shout it from the rooftops. It's not like it's gonna be embarrassing or anything," I whispered to myself. I gave in and grabbed my huge purse off the counter, along with Tony's laptop. When I walked into the living room, the six of them were sitting around. Thor was stuffing his face with the PopTarts I directed him to, Tony seemed fixated on his fingernails, Steve looked confused and frustrated, Bruce didn't appear like he cared about anything, and Natasha was entertaining Clint's flirting for once. "How was the meeting?" I asked, putting my stuff on a side table and taking a seat beside Steve.

"They didn't take it well," said Tony, "and they tried to deny it up until Steve put one of their prototypes on the table." I felt a smile creep onto my face. I had helped with the prototype. Well, not exactly.

"Did you mention…" I began, hesitantly glancing at Bruce. He shook his head in response. I wanted to know major details on the Winter Soldier but only time would tell on that front. With Loki as the immediate problem, a brainwashed best friend of Captain America would just have to wait. "After that, did they say anything?" Steve shrugged beside me.

"Not anything of value," said Tony. "Just that we shouldn't be snooping and you need to make sure you're not getting into trouble anymore." I rolled my eyes. Me? Get into trouble?

"I take it you told them about what's gonna happen." Natasha seethed across the room and I could practically feel her anger. I didn't know whether that anger was still directed at me or not.

"We're on our own," she said. Oh, that's what had her riled up. We weren't getting backup until the absolute last second. Well, from what I understood, the gala wasn't meant to be a battlefield. We wouldn't need the extra men to begin with and if they were there, they would make Loki's instincts flare up and he might not even show. Even if he did, he'd be more willing to start something if he saw we were on the affront.

"We can come up with a good plan anyway," said Steve. "Hopefully, we won't need it."

That was the end of that. They refused to say anything more on what was going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the weapons they had planned on creating with the cube. Maybe they didn't know anything more than what they'd already told me. Whatever the case was, we were all lost when it came to what to do.

As the afternoon grew later and the PopTarts grew shorter, I got Thor to teach me some basic dance steps. I hoped dancing was done in Asgard the same as it was done here. I stood to the side as Thor lifted the coffee table out of the middle of the surrounding couches and put it behind one of them. Lifting things seemed effortless for Thor. His arms barely even strained themselves. It probably would've taken me hours to move the same table across the room.

Thor was still wearing his nice outfit from earlier in the day but had untucked his shirt. I was wearing my golden heels that I planned on wearing to the party. He grinned at me from across the room before we met in the now empty space in the middle of the living room. Thor then commenced into physically moving my arms into the right position and making me stand up properly. I breathed out. I was going to hate this.

After Thor had gotten me into the proper frame (without outright laughing which was commendable), he put one hand on the small of my back and grasped my other one. I reluctantly pressed my free hand onto his back as well. "We must be closer," Thor said in that thunderous voice and he pulled me closer with a force I should've been expecting, but wasn't. I made a noise in response but kept my gaze on my feet. My fingers were tangling into the loose fabric of Thor's shirt and my grip tightened on his hand.

"Just don't let me fall," I said. My gold heels awkwardly rubbed against each other and I think my feet knew that it was impossible for me to get through dancing without tripping at least once. Walking in heels wasn't necessarily the problem because I usually did that at work and I tripped even when I was barefoot. But being in heels and walking in some sort of pattern, with a rhythm, to music? My feet systematically didn't like being on the ground.

"Do you trust me?" Thor said it as a joke and was probably meaning he would do his best to catch me.

"I don't know if I trust you with this," I responded skeptically. I wasn't sure of anyone helping me dance.

Thor laughed in response and I found it rather reassuring. "You must follow me," he said. Good because I certainly doubted that I could lead. Thor went through a few steps and I learned to mimic his feet with my own. All in all, it wasn't bad. I would just have to remember it. At least, I had another day to practice.

My grip on Thor's hand would've been crippling on anyone else's, I was sure, but after all, Thor was Asgardian. When he forced me into a dip, after explaining it was the natural progression of the dance, my feet tangled in each other and I lost balance. I made a noise and dug my nails into Thor's upper arm now that the hold was broken. Thor started laughing again and put me back on my feet.

Tony clapped from the stairwell. I pushed my hair out of my face and shrugged. "Not bad, Princess!" said Tony. "Keep working on it!"

"Thanks," I responded blandly.

"Just do not look at the floor so often," Thor said. I nodded. I felt like I had to to keep myself from falling.

"Well, let's take a break," I said, collapsing onto one of the couches. I took off my gold shoes and sat them to the side of me. They really were great heels. I glanced at the glittering watch on my wrist, the gift from Tony, and noticed that it was later than I thought it would be.

"Can I ask a personal question?" Tony asked, sauntering into the living room to sit by my side. I rolled my eyes when Clint leaned over the back of the couch, clearly wanting the same answer he did.

"If you must ask," I responded. Thor was carefully putting the table back in the middle of the room and I noticed that the other Avengers were entering. Natasha and Bruce got off the elevator but disappeared upstairs and Steve was meandering in the kitchen. I vaguely heard him get out a glass.

"Truth or dare?" asked Clint. I rolled my eyes again.

"Ask whatever it is you wanna know. I will answer without those pretenses." Clint leaned closer and Tony put his arm on the back of my seat on the couch. "There's no need to get cozy," I joked.

"We're just curious about something," Clint said. I put my head to my hand, looking down at my knees.

"Just ask."

"You have to be honest too. Well, we were thinking earlier about all of these conflicted feelings you've been having and we just wanted to know-"

"Did you sleep with Loki or not?" asked Tony. My head shot up out of my hand, I saw Thor grip the arm of the couch he was sitting on, and a glass broke in the kitchen. Great, Steve was hearing this too.

"No," I responded. Tony's face dropped. He'd clearly been wanting some details. "Sorry to disappoint but no. I didn't pop his cherry or anything." Thor looked confused and Clint succumbed to laughter as he jumped over the back of the couch and took my other side.

"He's a virgin?" asked Clint.

"Can't say I'm surprised," said Tony. "The guy is a bit of a freak." I gave Tony a look.

"It's not like that," I said. "I don't know for sure but I just always assumed. He was so eager to try it with me and I guess most guys are like that anyway but I'll never know for sure. I just kind of got the impression that he didn't fit in back there and so he never dated. He was always really resentful of Thor and Jane. I think he didn't think an opportunity would present itself." As a researcher, I did pride myself on being good at reading people. It was the way Loki came off and it wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it endeared him to me even more, if that was possible.

"So why didn't you sleep with him?" asked Clint. I shrugged.

"I was really nervous about it most of the time. I'd just sit in my cube at work and I'd think about going home and being with a 'god' and it was just insane. I never really even accepted we were dating because it was so surreal. I was just so excited and nervous all the time." Thor looked like he'd rather be doing anything else other than picturing Loki being with anyone and I felt bad for him. It was awkward for me to talk about too.

"So you never once even saw each other naked?" asked Tony. I shook my head.

"Not fully."

"How fully?" My face was burning red but he wasn't going to let up and I shrugged.

"One day, we were going to… go for it, I guess, and I kinda planned it ahead of time when I was at work that day because Steve was in the cube beside me and it was utter torture and I felt bad about thinking of him like that when I was with someone and I convinced myself to stop being nervous about it. But before anything really happened (I think only our shirts were off since you're so curious, Tony), my phone rang and it was Steve saying Thor had come back. And then Loki and I were just done anyway." I glanced over Tony's shoulder and saw Steve standing in the threshold between the kitchen and the living room. I wanted to jump out of a window. First of all, Steve had never reacted well to talking about sex and with Tony around, we talked about it a lot. But I'm sure this was a new level.

"Man, you were cockblocked!"

"Can we not talk about this anymore? It's really awkward. I'm sure it's awkward for everyone here. Why you would even want to know something like that is beyond me."

"Hey, you know who everyone here has been with. It's not fair."

"Why don't I just send out an email the next time I sleep with someone? I'll give it a 1-10 evaluation." I'm not sure whether any of the four them really understood that I was joking.

The next couple of days passed rather quickly. My dress got delivered and everyone was preparing themselves. Steve suggested we all have stuff in the building should something begin to happen and I agreed with him. Tony set things up in various rooms apparently the morning of the gala. I was being given a S.H.I.E.L.D. bodysuit because according to Phil, I'd "earned it." Finally, I was getting something I deserved.

The night of it, we all gathered in the living room and started talking again. "We have to find the tesseract," said Thor. "There are more of those Chitauri waiting for Loki's command."

"But where is he keeping it?" asked Natasha.

"Well, let's think," said Tony. "He has to have it close because he continually strikes us in a home base. Why? He knows he's got to defeat us to be able to do this at all, doesn't he?"

"I thought the goal was to take us down one-by-one," said Clint.

"Yeah, divide and conquer, that's great but… Loki is a full tilt diva. He wants an audience! He wants to beat us. He wants to be seen doing it."

"That's why he made that speech downtown," said Steve. Tony nodded.

"Oh, he wants it all. He wants flowers and parades and admirers, a huge monument built to the skies with his name on it… Son of a bitch." We all had the same realization that Tony did. Tony's building in New York hadn't been open very long and it was running on clean energy. Tony had built something akin to an arc reactor and it meant that his building had self-sustaining power, therefore, it was all over the news. The biggest improvement on the building was that it had his name emblazoned on it. Loki had even been there before.

"Oh God, it's going to be there tonight," I said. "He wants it there. But why? He'd have to worry about that the entire time. I thought this could be a peace negotiation."

"You had to know that it wouldn't be," said Bruce. "You're not going with him and that was Loki's entire bargain. I swear, that guy's brain is a bag of cats." I'd never heard that expression before but I tucked it away for a rainy day.

"Clint and I can work on finding it," said Natasha. "I'm sure we won't be missed." Thor and I stared between each other. Neither of us knew how to react.

"But what is he going to do with it?" I asked. "Why have it there?"

"The first time those aliens attacked, they were coming out of a portal," said Steve. "The cube opened it." That made a lot of sense, given the tesseract's immense power as an energy source. It could be a doorway and it also explained my theory on Red Skull not being dead, just being shot off into another realm. Of course, the cube opening a portal for the Chitauri made sense. The tesseract's energy was also incased in Loki's scepter. It was all connected. But was he genuinely planning on opening up another portal tonight or tomorrow?

"He'd have to be outside to do that, right?" I asked. They all nodded. "What about your roof or your new balcony, Tony? Could he set something up out there?"

"That would be my first guess. Set it up on the roof and relax on the balcony while a new fleet of those things tears apart New York," Tony responded. I felt like I needed to sit down. Tony had been right. It was a ploy to get us all in the same place and without weapons so that we couldn't save the city. He'd probably take us out.

"Well, he wouldn't have the time, would he?"

"He doesn't need it," said Clint. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has no shortage of enemies. Loki has people who could do it for him." Thor crossed his arms and walked around a bit. He looked a little lost without Mjolnir with him but the hammer was securely in Stark Industries, as were everyone else's weapons of choice. I certainly hoped I had plenty of ammo because I sure as hell wasn't sitting this one out.

"I think our best plan is to just be prepared," said Steve. "Something is obviously going to happen. At least we'll be ready for it." I didn't know how ready I would be.

"I'll have the quinjet on standby," said Clint. "That way Natasha, Steve, and I can get off the ground if need be. We shouldn't take any chances with those airships." Steve nodded while my hands began to shake. Was this really happening?

"That sounds good but shouldn't we be focusing on trying to close the portal if it even opens?" Natasha asked. I held up my hand so that they could give me a minute to figure it out. Thoughts ran through my mind at a mile a minute and finally, they settled on the answer we needed to hear.

"The key to it has got to be his spear," I said. "It's powered by the tesseract. I think that would be our best bet. No normal weapon is going to be able to break through some force field or stop a self-sustaining energy source."

"Charlotte, where have you been hiding all of your brains?" asked Tony. I laughed a little. "You can do it. Get the scepter and close the portal. It shouldn't be hard for you." My mouth dropped open but I didn't say anything when none of the others opposed it. If they wanted to send me to my death then that was fine because trying to separate Loki from that staff would definitely anger him. But then I realized that none of them were opposing the idea because they thought I could do it. They actually had faith in me as an agent.

"It's not gonna be as easy as it sounds but I'll try. I'll have to be with him alone and we might get separated," I said. "It's gonna make him mad when I refuse him and I'm to going to add insult to injury by trying to take the spear. If it looks like it's going downhill, I want out." Thor nodded. He had his own fish to fry with Loki and if it looked like I was in danger, Thor would be my backup. He could be my partner during at least part of the night.

As I got into my dress and donned my gold pumps, I tried to think of any way to avoid a seriously bad confrontation. Who was I kidding? I had to turn down Loki's offer. Even if I didn't, there was no guarantee Loki would back down. He still wanted this place, he had nowhere to go that would accept him, at least not for a while, and I couldn't lie to him. That wouldn't be fair to me or him or any of the other Avengers. I had serious feelings for Steve, feelings that I wish would go elsewhere until I was healthy enough to deal with them. Realistically, there was never a time where I felt mentally prepared enough to deal with romantic feelings for someone.

Loki was going to be angry and he was going to lash out at me. It might, in fact, be dangerous but I had to do it. The six of them were counting on me and I had a good theory on closing the portal, a theory they trusted and one I really believed would work. The pain Loki would be caused would be worth it. The pain I would endure would be worth it. The loss of our relationship could dissolve a planet-wide pandemonium. I didn't want to bite the bullet and lose Loki forever and maybe I wouldn't but the risk was certain and I had to take it.

I descended the stairs after finishing the touches on getting dressed and putting a wire on. I hoped it was indiscreet. I was actually excited about the gala. I loved an excuse to dress up and I was looking forward to seeing everyone else cleaned up too. But the intent of the night eked it's way into every singular good thought I had. I was going to decline a halfassed offer that Loki clearly hadn't thought through. It wasn't my fault that he didn't realize he couldn't take refuge on my couch anymore. In some sickeningly nice part of my mind, I thought of Asgard and how now the potential of me going there was slim. Not that I wanted to see the place that tore Loki apart inside. No doubt that would be his punishment.

The seven of us exchanged pleasantries at how nice the rest of us looked and I felt my heart giving way to tremors when I saw Steve. He looked handsome, as he usually did, but he also looked nervous; nervous to see me, nervous to stand next to me in the elevator, nervous about dancing. I got the feeling that Steve would be more comfortable with the inevitable fight that would happen after the gala than he was with the gala itself.

Once there, I locked myself to Thor and Steve in a desperate attempt to drive off any bad feelings. They were both relatively positive people but tonight, they seemed worse off than I was. Hours passed in quiet. Tony introduced me to a few of his compatriots, all of them saying how regal I looked in emerald. I knew green was my color and I always played to it whenever I could. I downed a martini (even though I wasn't particularly fond of them) at the bar while talking to Bruce. Inevitably, I began to get antsy. My eyes focused on the dance floor, where Clint and Natasha were dancing, and I took to staring at other people. Was Loki even going to show up at this point? It was late, later than a party like this would usually last but it was being thrown by Tony.

I felt a jolt when Thor rubbed against me in a comforting way. When I turned to look at the blonde demigod, I felt my fears begin to subside. "Are you not curious to try your new steps with these good people?" he asked. I knew he was wondering why I hadn't gone dancing.

"I'd rather not die tonight," I responded. Once the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. Thor put a surly hand on my shoulder. We could die tonight. I was especially at risk, what with turning Loki down if he ever decided to grace us with his presence. "But on second thought, it would be nice." Thor grinned in his beautiful way and I had a quick thought of how lucky a woman Jane was.

"Then why are you not dancing?" My eyes locked with Steve's as he was making his way toward us and my hands began to shake.

"I've just been waiting on the right partner." Steve froze in the midst of the room and I swear, he was blushing. We could all hear each other, thanks to our wires and I knew he'd been listening to Thor and I. When Steve looked at me again, I only nodded.

The "right partner" thing stemmed from the multiple times I've read Steve's file and everything it included. His first love, Peggy Carter, and he had had that running line with each other. It felt wrong for me to say it, to take it away from someone who he couldn't be with and never had the chance to, but at the same time, it was true. It felt right for me to say it and I could tell the minute that Steve walked up and offered me his hand, it had been the right thing to say.

Thor had given me a sly grin, the way a big brother would tease a little sister, before I'd followed Steve onto the dance floor. When I got into the hold that Thor had taught me, it felt right to be doing it with Steve. "Did Thor teach you to dance too?" I asked. Steve looked down at me and for once that night, he didn't look terribly nervous.

"He might have," he responded. I broke into a grin and he gave me a laugh that was so genuine, that I wanted to hug him.

"He spent more time with you than he did me," I said, noticing that Steve was obviously a better dancer than I was. Maybe that was an after effect of the serum. You didn't become a human at their physical peak without having some sort of benefits.

I paused for a second, realizing this is something normal people did. Normal people went out and danced. Normal people were teased about having a crush on someone. Normal people were… No, no, there was nothing normal about Tony laying across the bar and trying to convince Bruce to start singing.

I put myself closer to Steve and I looked up at him, trying to gauge whether it was okay to do. He didn't push me away and I felt guilty because I thought that he should. "Why are you so nice to me, Steve?" I asked without thinking. He appeared confused, a line showing between his eyebrows like he was overly stressed by the question. "I don't deserve it," I offered up in explanation. "It's not fair to you, the things I've done."

"You love someone else, none of us can change that." It was an obvious statement and it really was true but I didn't want him to know how deep my feelings were for Loki. I didn't want him to know how deep my feelings were for him. "But you do deserve this." I closed my rouged lips and turned my head to the side, resting it against his chest.

"You're a good man," I said, "and I'm glad I took you on as an assignment." I wondered if one day I would come to regret my involvement with the Avengers but I'd only ever been grateful for it. These were the best friends I'd ever wanted.

I felt Steve breathe out and I moved to look up at him. "I'm glad you did too," he responded. I knew he was too nervous to say anything else because of how Steve got when he was around women but I knew that he meant it all the same. He might've been a different person if Maria Hill had been assigned to him.

"Dammit," I heard Tony say. I dropped my hand from Steve's lower back and turned to look at Thor, whose face who showed every emotion in the book; anger, sadness, and guilt. I closed my eyes tightly for a long moment before turning my head to glance at the entrance. Steve dropped my hand but almost as quickly, I wanted it back. Loki was standing in the doorway, immaculately dressed and staring at Steve and I.

I made a gesture at Steve as Loki approached and I hope he understood that I wanted him to back off and go elsewhere. I didn't want it all to go to hell faster than anticipated and it surely would if the two of them got around to having a conversation.

Loki's eyes glinted with what I assumed was jealousy and his thin lips were pressed together in a tight line. He didn't have the scepter and I felt my nervousness only expand. Where was it? Clint was staring over Natasha's shoulder at me but I didn't make a move to respond to it. When Loki arrived in front of me, I felt smaller than I usually did but I tried not to think about it. "May I have this dance?" he asked, his usual clipped voice sounding husky with some unknown emotion. He extended a pale hand toward me and I took it. He was as cold as I had remembered him being and in fact, the air in the room now seemed to have a hint of coldness.

When I moved to get into a hold with him, I placed my free hand on his shoulder, knowing that that was less casual than if I'd placed it on his lower back. Loki took his time with me or it seemed like he did. His hand moved across my bare shoulder in a way that I thought might be too sensual for him to be doing in public and when he rested his hand on my lower back, he pulled me into him. I averted my gaze the minute we started dancing. This was going to be terrible.

I caught a glimpse of Thor and his eyes looked between Loki and I like he couldn't seem to decide who would be better to look at. "You look beautiful," Loki said. My hand dug into the fabric of his suit and I desperately hoped he didn't take notice of it.

"Thank you," I said. "So do you. You always look beautiful." He was, in a sort of tragic way. I had always felt weird using that adjective to describe a man but nothing else would do someone like Loki justice. I wasn't looking at him but Loki forced me closer to him again and I knew that he appreciated that I was responding. All in all, I would've felt better if I'd had a gun. There was something oddly comforting about having one now that I'd done so much training.

"I hate to spoil your wondrous mood," Loki began, as he curled down towards me, whispering in my ear, "but it seems to me that you are not in one. What is your decision?" I gulped and my grip hardened on his shoulder and his hand.

Tony whispered, "Good luck," and I stared down at the floor.

"I'm sorry," I said, beginning to lift my head. "I'm so sorry for everything but I can't go with you. I can't." I immediately was sorry for looking at him. Our eyes connected and for a second, he had an innocent and childish look on his face, like he was experiencing his first betrayal. I sucked my breath in when I saw it, as it reminded me of things I loved about Loki, and it faded just as fast.

The look on his face conveyed all of his fears confirmed and his grip on me turned fierce and animalistic. I winced. I saw him bare his teeth as his hand raveled in the fabric of my dress and my heart gave way to tremors. Loki broke his gaze on me to scan the room, his emerald eyes looking like they wanted to burn the building to the ground, and I knew he was searching for Steve. "How could you do this? Why?" Loki demanded, his voice turning guttural and I knew I'd lost him. He'd never really loved me, he just wanted attention, but it hurt me to know that I had to do this anyway. "You have signed your planet's death ledger, you impotent girl," he snarled down at me, his eyes searching my face for any sign of weakness and I'm sure I was giving him plenty. I yanked at his grip, trying to pull away, but I couldn't, not with his strength.

"You have to understand why," I said. Normally, I would've made a snide remark about him calling me a girl but in his eyes, and Thor's, I'm sure I was nothing more than one. At any rate, I didn't want to press Loki. This had finally sent him over the edge.

"I should have known better than to waste my time on someone like you. You are careless and a fool and losing you means nothing to me, you sickening mortal." He was lying; I sure hoped he was lying. "But I must thank you for showing me how naïve the humans are." Anger was his primary emotion and he looked like he hated me but he also looked terribly brokenhearted. I defiantly kept my gaze on him.

"Look down on mortals all you want but there is something special about humanity and it's something you'll never have. This realm will never bow to someone like you." Loki pushed me away from him when I hit his final straw. He had a certain pain on his face and it almost made me regret saying it.

"There are no men like me," he said and for a moment, he seemed calm.

"That may be true but men always want what you want, Loki. They never win and neither will you." I think I was beginning to get choked up and I forced myself through it. "You don't have to do this. Give this up and go home." It was my last plea and Loki had to know how desperate it was. His façade crumbled for a second and he wanted to believe me but he snarled again almost as quickly.

"What home is that, Charlotte? You know as well as I that Asgard holds no love for me." I took a second to look behind me and all of the other Avengers had dispersed aside from Steve. I felt calmer just knowing he hadn't abandoned me.

"Maybe they would have if you'd been good. Maybe you're lost now but you weren't always. Everything wicked starts from innocence. And God, I'm sorry for everything you've been through." He gave me a withering look, that spear materializing in his hand and a gold glimmer surrounded him as his armor replaced the suit he'd been wearing.

"You know nothing of pain," he responded, with a sheen to his eyes that I wasn't sure weren't tears. I took off running the minute I saw his intent and he jerked the spear anyway, a blue beam breaking Tony's downstairs bar. The building shook from something that didn't result from Loki's staff and I knew it was the portal. I didn't look back when Steve raced toward and grabbed my hand.

I forced myself to move with extreme difficulty, spurning my beautiful gold pumps and running into the office holding our things with Steve. We turned our backs to each other before rolling up our spandex costumes, mine the blue and gray fitted suit with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo emblazoned on it. I heard Steve make a noise and I gulped as I zipped up the front of my suit. I strapped on my guns and felt safer for having them so close. Gray boots sat against the wall, waiting for me to pull them on and I did so, clumsily falling over them and catching myself against the wall they'd been sitting near.

"God, I'm gonna get myself killed one day," I shrugged quietly. I turned and looked at Steve, who was looking at me with worry. "But it won't be today." Not today, not for either of us. Steve had yet to pull on his cowl and for that, I was grateful. For all my fake confidence, I wasn't sure that this day wouldn't be the worst yet.

"You shouldn't be here," he said, whispering anxiously as he approached me. I shook my head. I was going to do something right. I was going to close that portal. "Are you sure you don't need backup? I'll stay." I shook my head again. He wasn't endangering himself unnecessarily when he could be helping civilians, his favorite thing. It would be selfish to keep him in this building.

"Go with Natasha and Clint and get airborne. Then you can figure out everything else. I'll go for the cube," I said, the building shaking again. This time I knew it was more of those alien pods. Was I absolutely sure this was a good idea? No, I wasn't. But I didn't want Steve near Loki and I think they both knew that. "You should go now," I said reluctantly. This situation was bigger than anything any one of us had ever dealt with. Steve engulfed my small frame in a hug that broke my heart. It took everything in me not to start shaking in his arms. But he had enough on his plate without adding my emotions to the mix. Too bad they were the only things I acted on.

When Steve began pulling back, I stood as tall as I could make myself (which still wasn't very tall) and grabbed the back of his head in a harsh embrace, crashing both of our lips together. It wasn't the romantic moment either of us deserved but under the circumstances, I wasn't sure either of us cared. My free arm wrapped around his shoulder and he held me in a steadfast way and for a moment, I completely forgot that I could be going to my death. My back pressed against the wall and my feet began to tire of being on their tiptoes but I didn't care. Steve filled me with a warmth and happiness that I had never experienced before and I cursed myself for not giving into this feeling earlier.

My guess is neither of us heard the door open, revealing Tony and Thor. Or we didn't care. Either way, hearing Tony say into his mic, "Barton, you won't believe this! Steve and Charlotte are finally making out!" jerked us out of whatever trance we'd been in. Clint's reaction of cheering made color rise to my cheeks and Thor was grinning in a happy way, like he'd wanted this for both of us. "Well, we'll give you two some time to say goodbye. But Rogers, the quinjet is ready." Steve nodded without returning Tony's gaze.

"Hey, be careful," I said, putting my hands on either side of Steve's face, trying to keep him close to me. I wanted his warmth. "Just please be careful." He smiled in response and all I wanted to tell him was that he shouldn't settle for me.

"You're the one that needs to be careful," he said. I closed the distance between us again and pressed myself as close to him as I could get. Steve was an innocent kisser and maybe I was one too.

The next time someone arrived, I heard it. My instincts flared and so did Steve's. I pushed Steve back at the sight of Loki in the doorway. "Go," I whispered. I didn't know whether Steve responded with a nod or what. My eyes wouldn't leave Loki's face. It was filled with rage and what I could only assume was fear.

Loki magically made his staff appear again, it's blue light glowing in the early morning, along with his helmet. I shuddered unconsciously at the fact that we'd put him on alert. He slowly approached the both of us and finally I broke my staring to glance at Steve. My heart was pounding so loud that I was sure both of them could hear it. "We've got company," Steve said and I knew it was to alert the others. If they checked back in, it didn't register in my mind.

Meanwhile, Loki was switching between looking at the two of us at an alarming rate, as though he couldn't decide who the worst was. I thought about putting my hands up but I had guns strapped to me. Were they the better bet? They wouldn't kill Loki but they might delay him. I saw Steve tense and reach for his shield. Loki didn't prevent him. "I should have realized earlier that this is why you refused," Loki said. He was doing a fairly good job of containing the anger in his voice. Usually, that was the most terrifying thing about him. But his words were directed at me and I began backing away from him in fear as he tilted that scepter near me, almost toward my heart.

"Maybe if you had stopped this earlier," Steve said. "You did this to yourself." Loki turned to him now which was the last thing I wanted. Loki had a manic look on his face and he wanted to hurt Steve because he knew he was right. Steve was backing away now, the spear sending him into overdrive.

"True enough, soldier," Loki said in response. "You have incredible heart." Steve readied himself and I put my hand to one of my loaded handguns. "But unfortunately, I cannot be stopped by the likes of you."

"There is no version of this where you come out on top." Steve wasn't acting nervous but I knew he was and I was utterly frozen. I noticed how close they were to the window and I started.

Loki began grinning. "That is where you are wrong. Before this is over, all of you will kneel to me and oh, what is that Midgardian expression? Nice guys finish last." I moved fast but not fast enough because certainly, neither Steve nor I had foreseen it. Quickly, Loki had hit Steve with armored forearm, sending him crashing out of the window and I screamed.

"No!" I screeched. I heard Natasha in my ear but I couldn't respond. Loki's arm hit my middle harder than I expected when I rushed toward the window to look out. He pulled me back but not before I caught a glimpse of Steve moving off the top of a largely dented car and the destruction from the Chitauri that had already begun. "Dammit!" Loki forced me back again and I didn't resist. Steve was alright, for now.

"Cap, the quinjet! Kent's on her own, like she wanted. Thor look out for her," said Natasha. I didn't respond, silently thankful that I had a loyal partner. I let Loki take my arm, gripping it hard enough to bruise. He didn't deem me good enough for a look and unfortunately, it got to me. This was the stupidest decision on earth.

We went to the top floor, where I was led out onto Tony's balcony. I saw on the roof that the cube was opening a new portal and I held my tongue at the sight of it. Chitauri were pouring out of it and slinking down other buildings in Manhattan. What could stop that? Loki let go of my arm once we were outside. The sun was fully up and I continued to stare at the portal in disbelief. "No," I breathed. That hadn't been all of his army. We'd only seen a fraction of it. His partner must be a powerful guy. "Loki, I am begging you. Please stop this." Loki turned at once, giving me a look that made me feel like Judas.

"It is much too late for that." My eyes clouded over and I felt fear fill me in a way it never had before. For a second, Loki showed a flicker of regret and I wanted to apologize to him.

"It isn't. Please, let's stop this. Give up this poisonous dream. It isn't worth it. Look at what you're doing!" I cried desperately. I heard one of the Avengers say that it was no use but I couldn't help trying. I flinched as the Chitauri poured over a neighboring building and Loki extended his arm toward me, almost like it was a reflex. "Please, do not hurt these people. You can't imagine what that will make you feel." Loki clenched his lips together. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry."

"I will tear this city apart and I will kill those Avengers one by one while you watch and then and only then will I accept your apology. You know nothing of the pain I have felt and I will never be able to make you suffer the way I have. That is the only regret I shall ever hold. But I will give this realm the king it deserves." Emotion filled me and I felt myself begin to cry. He was fully gone. I'd lost him.

"I know you've been hurt before and I never once wanted to cause it. You have to believe me. But hell will freeze over before I let you kill any one of them." I hoped my fear wasn't showing but Loki gave me a seductive smile.

"Oh, you stupid, foolish girl. Your life means nothing to me." I took that newest insult in good form. "But a clean death would suit you ill." I felt my jaw clench and I tried to hold back another set of tears.

"If you do kill me, so be it. I'd rather die than bow to you." He snarled but I heard the quinjet and I sighed when I recognized the familiar whirring of it's engines. But Loki knew what it was too.

"Have some of your so loved allies arrived early?" Loki turned and jerked that scepter, a blue light pulsing out and I didn't think. I ran, grabbing the spear but the blast hit the quinjet anyway and a bad feeling consumed me at physical contact with that thing. It didn't last long as I crashed through the glass fence Tony had surrounding his balcony and my left side tore on a shard as I fell off the roof.

I screamed bloody murder, knowing I was going to die. I reached up in a last attempt to grab the ledge and I was jerked from the thought of imminent death when something grabbed my forearm. I thought my arm was being torn from it's socket and I looked up and saw Loki. I gasped for air and his grip only tightened. I thought he was fracturing bone. I clutched the broken bottom of the fence with my left hand but let go just as quickly from the glass. I looked up into the face of my unlikely rescuer and I gripped his forearm back with both of my hands, practically bending the metal armor. His face showed more concern than I'd ever seen and it was full of unadulterated fear. I gasped again as he pulled me up faster than I expected. I was relieved to not be dangling off the side of a building anymore.

I openly sobbed and moved away from the open edge as fast as I could. Loki moved with me, reluctant to let go of my arm. "Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much. Thank you."

"Kent, you alright?" I heard Clint say. That was the mildest any of them asked. The three of them on the quinjet were alright and they had thought I was for sure dead. But I couldn't respond.

My side was searing with pain and I put pressure to it while staring at Loki. He was awfully close but I was shaking and I didn't want to move away. I couldn't when he looked as relieved as he did. "Really, thank you," I said again. He looked conflicted and then I knew why.

"I am in love with you," he said. My eyes grew larger and I heard mumbled responses through my wire but I couldn't make them out.

"No," I breathed. "No, that's impossible. No." I had no clue it was that severe. I had never known there was a shot in hell for him to care for me the way I did for him. But I didn't get the chance to say anymore before Thor had attacked Loki and tore him away from me.


	38. Chapter 38

The knee-jerk reaction I had was to tell Thor to stop but I knew that was stupid. Thor probably thought he was protecting me and on top of that, he had unfinished business with Loki. My right hand pressed down on my left side and I made a noise in response. Blood was on my hand but it wasn't as much as I expected. The wound wasn't very deep.

Before Thor had done much else, Loki had reached and grabbed his spear, holding it long ways to protect him from any blow of Mjolnir's. Loki was on his feet faster than I would've been and he set to attacking Thor. I heard the clash of metal when their two weapons collided and I felt like I could only watch. I needed the scepter. All Thor had to do was knock it out of Loki's hand.

They carried on for a while, knocking most of the letters of Tony's name from the building. The rest of the glass fence shattered and finally, Thor took the opportunity when he got close enough and gripped Loki's neck, pausing him in the middle of an attack. I gasped and moved to finally get up, adrenaline coursing through me, causing the pain in my side to dissipate.

"You will stop this madness, brother," said Thor. As I gripped the railing and pulled myself up, I saw Loki's face drain of rage for a moment. Thor had called him his brother. It made my heart hurt. "Look at what you have done!" He forced Loki to look out on Manhattan and the destruction there. I saw a flicker of emotion color Loki's face. He hadn't wanted to destroy Earth, he'd wanted to rule it. There was a huge difference. My mind flashed to the idea of Thanos and the fact that I assumed he had threatened Loki. Otherwise, maybe he'd have stopped this a while ago. "We can stop this together. All of us." Thor gestured at me with the hand clutching Mjolnir and I nodded at Loki when he looked at me.

"Your sentiment sickens me. Both of you," Loki responded. Thor dropped Mjolnir beside him, power wafting off of it, and grabbed Loki's arm with his now free hand. My hand clutched the cut on my side.

"Don't hurt him, Thor!" I said, my voice quaky. It was obvious that I'd been put through the ringer. My head started hurting when I thought of what Loki had told me not long before this. Now he was grimacing at me like he was angry I had the audacity to stand up for him. I stood my ground and stared back.

"You are ungrateful," Thor said, his voice booming with emotion. "This woman took you in when you were frightened and alone." When Loki made a face, Thor shook him. "Do not deny it, Loki. Heimdall kept his watch on you."

"You knew he was here when I picked you up?" I said to Thor.

"It was better to keep things about Asgard from you at the time," Thor responded before turning back to his brother. "Now, damn it all, Loki, you are coming home."

"To be punished? I think not," Loki responded. I heard Thor groan and Loki pushed him away from him and Thor crumpled to the ground.

"What the hell did you do?" I demanded. Loki gripped my hand in response and pulled me toward the now open ledge. "No, I'm not-" I glanced back at Thor who was pulling a blade from his midsection and he made eye contact with me. I didn't think when I was pulled off the building by Loki. I screamed and closed my eyes once I realized the destination of our fall; one of the Chitauri airships. But it didn't last long. Thor ripped me away before I was on it and we landed on the street not far from Stark Tower. I gasped when my back hit the ground hard, much harder than I think Thor anticipated and he bent down around me after quickly deflecting a beam from one of the ships, possibly the one Loki was piloting. I clutched my side, the pain in it sending me reeling. Thor dropped Mjolnir beside me and the pulse of energy it sent out made me jump.

"Are you all right?" Thor asked, pressing one hand to my face and the other to the wound on my side.

"I'll be fine," I muttered, placing one of my hands on his arm. Usually, his arms were bare but today, they were covered in Asgardian metal. I put my other hand on where I had estimated his wound to be. "What about you?"

"It hurt my pride more than my body," he responded. He attempted smiling at me, probably to ease both of our pain a little bit more, but I knew he was worried.

"Are we interrupting a tender moment here?" I would've recognized that voice anywhere; Tony Stark. I forced a laugh and Thor moved to help me up. I leaned my back against one of the many abandoned cars and saw the rest of the Avengers had arrived. They all looked battered already. "What the hell happened to you guys?"

"Well, next time, make sure your balcony is guarded by more than glass!" I said. Thor moved his hand away revealing my cut and I started sweating. Another pump of adrenaline would be helpful. I saw blood on his hand and I winced.

"You fell off the side of my building?" Tony asked. I held up two fingers, indicating that it had happened twice.

"I'd like to stay on the ground from now on," I responded. I saw Steve smile over at me. He'd put on that cowl that I hated so much. Maybe it was useful but it sure as hell wasn't attractive. Maybe the events thus far were making me focus on things that didn't matter. I wasn't sure. "But I never got the chance to close the portal. There wasn't the time and he wasn't going to let go of the staff no matter what Thor did."

"Then that just confirms the theory that that's what closes it," said Steve. "Someone's going to have to go back up there."

"He's not on the roof anymore," I said. "He jumped and took me with him before landing on the back of one of the ships. Maybe if Clint could shoot him down, we'd have a shot at it."

"It would be my genuine pleasure," said Clint.

"Then Clint, I'll need you up high," said Steve. "You keep an eye on everything else too, let us know when things are coming our way." Clint nodded. "Thor, you've got the lightening so light them up. Stark, you set up a sort of perimeter and keep them contained. Either send them back our way or destroy them. Bruce, this might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry," Bruce responded.

I jolted when I heard an extremely loud noise. All seven of us turned our attention to the portal. A new fleet of the Chitauri had arrived but that wasn't what frightened me. A huge serpent-like alien emerged and it was massive. It was probably bigger than the helicarrier and it wasn't a ship. It was an actual creature. Even from my spot on the ground, I recognized it bearing it's teeth in our direction. I watched it slink down the streets, knocking off buildings in it's path. I turned back to the others quickly. There went the adrenaline rush I needed.

Tony quickly grabbed Clint and gave him a lift after saying, "Clench up, Legolas." It was a good joke but at the time, I wasn't really ready to be laughing.

Tony flew back near us when I heard Steve call out, "Thor!" Thor nodded and kept me behind him. I saw over his shoulder that the serpent was making its way down our block. I stood frozen in place and Thor grabbed my hand with his.

"Okay, guys," said Tony, "I need Bruce to do his thing and hit this stupid alien hard. When it's outer armor breaks, I'm going to fire it up. Be ready." The only reason I could guess for why Tony hadn't attempted to blow the thing up yet was that he wasn't able to. The thing's skeleton was too thick. I saw Natasha edge closer to Steve and both of them began backing up, getting nearer to our left side.

I gasped when I saw Bruce go forward and automatically Hulk out. I'd never seen anything like it. I gripped Thor's hand harder and I glanced over at Steve beside me. He only nodded. We were going to make it through this. "It's coming your way, guys," said Clint.

"Thanks, genius!" Tony replied. I tried to back away as the huge thing got closer to us but Thor kept me up against his back. Then in a swift movement, I heard a pound and the street beneath us shook. I looked past Thor to see that the Hulk had pounded the nose of the serpent down into the concrete. The alien let loose a screeching noise and it's tail along with the rest of it's body curled into the sky, it's fast movement being curtailed by the Hulk. I gasped, thinking we might be crushed. Thor turned around instinctively and pulled me to his chest, one hand pressing my head there, the other arm held out in protection. I saw Steve protect himself and Natasha with the shield and I heard a boom, knowing Tony had gotten through. Light expanded down the street and Thor blocked any of the flame from hitting me.

Once it was over, the four of us stood back up. The street was now disgusting and when I looked up at the portal, two more of those serpents were coming through. I turned to look at Steve and he only nodded at Thor. Thor bent closer to me, making our foreheads touch and said, "I will watch out for you but you must be safe." He took being my partner very seriously. I was lucky when I got him. Then Thor backed away from me and grabbed his hammer, swinging it to gain momentum and then he flew off.

"What's our plan?" I asked.

"The three of us should stay on the ground," said Steve, "at least until Clint has knocked Loki off. Then we can worry about the portal."

"We've got company," said Natasha. I looked in the direction she was staring and I saw the Chitauri on foot. Where was my motorcycle when I needed it? These looked like they were holding staffs similar to the one Loki had; they were pulsing with electric energy and looked like every few seconds they gave off a shock. I decided then and there that when I ran out of ammo, I would find one of those to use.

I ran and slid over the hood of an abandoned car, landing on the ground beside it. I crouched near the wheel and grabbed one of my guns, positioning myself to be able to shoot from a hiding position. My injury would make it hard to elude them on foot for long. Running that short distance had stressed it. I slid back the top of the gun to cock it. When Steve gave us the nod, we noticed the aliens coming into our line of fire and I closed one eye and aimed. I started taking them out fast. Steve was using the shield and from what I could see, Natasha was jumping on them. I saw a few get taken out by arrows and I silently thanked Clint.

"Charlotte, behind you!" I heard Clint say in my ear. I turned and shot a Chitauri point blank and I slid to the ground, grabbing their spear and holstering my empty gun. I'd need it later but it was time to fight fire with fire. I moved from behind the car and angled the staff the way I'd seen Loki use his and I jolted it fast. It sent out a beam of light and took out at least three Chitauri.

I looked up in the sky when I heard thunder and I saw Thor was using all his might to frighten more serpent-Chitauri from coming through the portal. "We need to close it," I called, jerking the staff again.

"I'll do it but I'll need a ride," said Natasha.

"Are you sure about this?" I said, dropping the spear and getting another of my guns.

"Yeah, it's going to be fun. You want to help me, Cap?" I turned and I saw Steve make a face but he readied himself to give her a bounce off the shield. She ran and propelled herself off the side of a car and onto the shield before grabbing onto the tail of an airship. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

Before I made my way over to Steve, Clint was talking to us. "Cap, there are civilians trapped three blocks over. Can you get there?"

"Yes, I'll do it," Steve responded while looking at me.

"Okay, Kent, make it back to Stark Tower. I've got my eye on Loki and there he goes." I looked over near Stark Tower and I saw a blast. Loki was back on the balcony, thanks to one of Clint's exploding arrows. "Looks like the Hulk is gonna have a go-around with your dark prince next. Widow, his scepter is abandoned."

Steve and I only nodded at each other before we took off in separate directions. I ran, putting pressure on my side, even though I could barely feel it anymore and was intercepted by a multitude of aliens before I even reached the building. I ducked behind another car and prayed they hadn't caught sight of me yet. I grasped for my second handgun and cocked it. I silently vowed to myself that once this was over, I was using all of my extra time to train.

I leaned over the hood of the car and shot out. By then, they'd noticed I was there. I slid over the hood and grabbed one of those spears and jerked it, sending a blue beam out. When I looked down, I realized that the sudden movements I'd been making had caused new stress on my wound and it was open further. Blood was pouring down the side of my suit and I grasped the cut to put pressure on it, dropping the spear beside me. Blood oozed between my fingers and I moaned. "I need backup. Thor, please, I need you," I said.

"Kent, you need to keep going," Clint said.

"There's too many of them, I can't make it to the building," I responded. "Widow, are you there?"

"I'm here," Natasha replied. "I made it to the roof and Loki dropped the scepter when the Hulk surprised him. If I can put the front of the spear through the force field surrounding the cube, I can close the portal. But it may take a little more time." I groaned and turned when I heard a loud noise. Thor had come to help me.

"Charlotte, are you all right?" Thor demanded, walking toward me. He threw the hammer to save us some time and it arrived back in his hand before he ever reached me. I moved my hand to give him a glimpse at how bad I'd been hurt. He looked worried for a second but got it back together. "I need you to hide," he said, putting his hand to my face again. I nodded. "You are too weak to run. You must hide."

I moved behind one of the cars again and I slid to the ground, holding my abdomen and trying not to think about the fact that I could easily be killed. I heard the clank of Mjolnir and I breathed a sigh of relief. But Thor was only one man. I saw a flash of color and I realized Thor wouldn't be alone for long. Steve had arrived. He saw me first and was making his way toward me but I shook my head. "Help Thor," I said. He nodded and ran off.

Once he left, I realized that I'd been snuck up on. The Chitauri made noises that were almost hisses when they got close to you. I turned my head behind me and I yelled. I scrambled away from the car, still on the ground and I clawed for my gun. When I turned my head to the side, I saw Steve and Thor back-to-back going after their own swarm of enemies. At least, I only had one. When I looked forward again, the Chitauri had made a play to grab for my leg and I noticed he didn't have a spear. Thank God. I screeched when it pulled at my ankle and I turned my body, groaning at the pain to my side and I grabbed an abandoned staff and jerked back. The thing was leaning over me now and I pulled the spear and it sent off a shock, knocking the alien feet away from me.

I heard my name be called so I turned to the side once more and saw Steve and Thor. Thor had just sent Mjolnir out and Steve was turning back toward an alien when one of their blasts hit him and he fell to the ground. My breath caught in my throat and I felt that pressure behind my eyes, the kind that indicated I was about to cry. I pulled myself to my feet and I jerked the staff again, sending the alien that had hurt Steve back.

Then I ran. I clutched my side and took off running. I saw Thor get Mjolnir and he whammed the side of a car, sending it flipping down the block, hitting the rest of the Chitauri that had been threatening us. Steve had moved to his knees and I sank down in front of him. "Are you okay? Oh, my God," I said. He nodded. I looked down at where his injury was and it was already closing up. I started laughing at myself. Of course, he was okay. His healing process was amazing.

"I can close the portal, anybody copy?" said Natasha. "I can close the portal."

"Do it!" said Tony. "I'm done with this." I nodded as if she could see me. Clint responded to her too and I looked up, noticing that the portal grew smaller. We'd done it. It was over. We'd actually won. When it closed fully, I engulfed Steve in a hug and Thor laughed in triumph. The rest of the Chitauri fell to the ground, being cut off from their mother-ship. "Okay guys, now let's go arrest the fugitive." Tony's voice had been clear but I only sank further into the ground. Steve helped me to my feet but neither of them said anything as we made our way to Stark Tower.

We met up with the others before entering the room where the Hulk had defeated Loki. I tried not to show my nervousness about being around the Hulk and about what had happened to Loki. I tried to put my emotions on the backburner when I saw him. He was lying in the floor and his face was clearly cut up. He looked exhausted; although I'm sure I looked worse. In fact, for a few minutes, I wasn't sure Loki even realized we were there.

Natasha angled his scepter down at him and Clint had his bow at the ready. Both of them looked like they'd had a hell of a time today but they certainly weren't ready to give up; at least, not the way I was. I had been done the minute we'd entered Stark Tower again. I needed a medic to sew up my side and I didn't want to see Loki, not after what had happened. But there I was, standing on the side of the Avengers and staring down at him as he crawled out of a dent in the ground.

When he finally turned his emerald gaze on us, I had to resist every instinct I had to not try to help him. His eyes fixed on me after he'd assessed the danger of the six other people in the room. They gazed over my frame and settled on my bloody abdomen. I moved my hand to cover it. "Make a move, Reindeer Games," said Tony. Loki grimaced in response and after a final look at me, he raised his hands. A golden glow surrounded him and his heavier armor and his helmet disappeared.

Thor went forward and helped Loki off the ground, much to Loki's dismay. I stood still as I watched Tony and Thor escort him from the room. It was over but I doubted it was over for long.

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading! Haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I honestly didn't anticipate Charlotte and Thor having such a great team dynamic. It just sort of happened and I'm really pleased with that. I hope that's something ya'll liked. Well, I'm sad to say that the next chapter will be the last for this fic. I'm thinking of writing a second one and I probably will. Let me know if you'd be interested in that! Haha.**


	39. Chapter 39

"I think we ought to take the next few days off," Tony said, while the seven of us were eating on the other side of the island. Not many places had escaped the wrath of the Chitauri, especially the large serpentine ones. Our penthouse apartment on top of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters had been knocked off but luckily, the rest of the facility seemed unscathed. Loki was there now, awaiting what would be his punishment. I didn't know what it was either. The Avengers had swooped into a meeting with Maria, Fury, and Phil while my left side was being stitched up by medics.

"We sure as hell have done enough," Clint responded, biting down into his sandwich. I played with my fries. Thor, who was sitting beside me, had looked solemn for the entire meal. I looked at Bruce across the table. He'd come to grips with his other half, so to speak and I was happy for him. But that's where my happiness ended. Sure, the aliens weren't taking over the city and Loki was subdued but now he'd be subjected to a hugely public trial, probably be confined to his own private prison, and potentially never see anyone again. He'd be left alone with all of his thoughts and his thoughts about himself were rarely positive anymore. He always said to Thor, "I'm not your brother," like he was disowning himself rather than trying to get away from his family. Loki didn't belong and didn't think he deserved to.

"So you fell off the balcony twice, Charlotte?" Tony's voice brought me back to the conversation. I dropped the fry I'd been playing with and nodded. I saw Bruce nudge him, trying to get Tony off of my back.

Natasha started sipping on her drink and looking between me and Steve so I stared at my basket of fries again, picking one up and finally eating it. The stitches in my side ached every few minutes and I needed to eat between those intervals. I finally gave in and just rested my head on my hand, eating while I could. Tony and Clint started talking continuously about certain moves they saw or did. I think they even mentioned something about me at one point but my mind was on other things.

"Thor, when are you guys leaving?" Hearing Clint's question, I raised my head in confusion. What the hell was he talking about? I turned to Thor instinctively and he only looked at the four empty meal baskets in front of him.

"Tomorrow," Thor responded.

"I'm sorry, what's going on?" I asked. Steve put his hand on my forearm in reassurance but I kept my gaze on Thor. He returned my look slowly, his blue eyes peeping at me from behind that curtain of blonde hair, and I could swear that he was on the verge of tears. "You're leaving?" I whispered, my voice not wanting to get much louder than that. I heard Tony shoo away our waitress in some misguided attempt to keep our conversation private.

Thor nodded at me slowly. I sank back into my chair and made a noise that might've been a sigh. Of course, I'd always known that Thor couldn't stay on Earth. It would've been stupid for me to assume that. He had an immense amount of duties in Asgard and was set to one day become their king. His father had used a lot of energy to get Thor here while they were building a new Bifrost. It would've been naïve to assume he'd stay. But why wasn't he going to see Jane before he left? Why was he leaving so soon after our victory? Why would he leave Loki behind? Wait…

"Why?" I asked, even though my mind had already figured it out.

"Loki stands to face Asgardian justice," Thor said. "It will be better for him if he is not here." I pressed my lips together sharply.

"And the cube needs to go," said Tony. "We discussed it earlier and we think it would be safer in Odin's treasure room or whatever Thor called it."

"I guess I understand that," I responded. I remembered thinking to myself that the tesseract shouldn't be in human hands and S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't be trusted after that debacle with Phase 2. There genuinely wasn't a secure place to keep it. I understood that. And I did understand that Loki had to go back to Asgard. I'd thought of that at one point too, how that would likely be his punishment. How Thor had said that Loki needed to come home and how I'd tried to encourage him to go home too, to fix things. It didn't add up to me that it was actually happening. "People will come for that cube, Thor. You just remember that." Thor nodded at me and I pushed the rest of my fries away from me. "You're not gone forever, are you?" I asked. Thor clenched his jaw before answering.

"I will return but I cannot pretend to know when," he said. It was my turn to nod and then I pushed away from the table and moved to get up.

"When were ya'll planning on telling me?"

"It's not that we weren't going to," said Natasha.

"We just didn't wanna tell you until fifteen minutes before they left," said Tony. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. When I looked at Steve, he didn't say anything. In fact, he hadn't said anything this entire time. I was trying to talk myself down from being angry because I knew this needed to happen but my emotions were running wild.

"I wanna see him," I said. Tony's eyes widened and Clint responded with a shake of his head.

"That's not a good idea," said Clint. "He's being detained… with Asgardian metal." I silently questioned how Thor had conjured that up. "He's gagged, Charlotte. He's a prisoner." Gagged? What the hell did that mean?

"Clint, where at in this conversation did you get a hint that I give a damn about any of that?" My voice was raised now and none of them wanted to interrupt me. "You take me to him and you let me speak to him before they leave."

After a moment of silence, Clint responded. "Alright. But don't listen to a word he says. If there's a time he's going to lie to get out of a situation, it's going to be right now."

The rest of the meal passed in relative quiet aside from everyone discussing where they were going to live now that our apartment had been destroyed. Thor didn't comment as he was returning to Asgard. Tony would immediately start repairing Stark Tower and that would give himself, me, and Bruce a place to stay. I only nodded when he included me in that equation. Tony wants everyone to think he's an asshole but secretly, he's a good guy. And by doing this, he was looking out for me. Clint and Natasha were fine with the barracks that were unused in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Steve would worry about finding a place later. Apparently, he already had a new mission assigned.

I didn't know how I felt about that but it wasn't my place to comment anyway. Maybe that was the reason Steve had been silent most of the night. I expected it wouldn't be long until Natasha and Clint were called out on missions too. But Clint promised me that he would help me train before he did anything else and I trusted him to keep his word. Loki wouldn't be the last threat and since S.H.I.E.L.D. had finally honored me with a bodysuit, I thought it was eminent that they wanted me to become a serious agent. But that would have to happen on my time.

When we left and headed back to the facility, I felt lightheaded and full of nausea, which might've had something to do with my stitches. But I thought it was connected to ambiguity about Thor and Loki leaving. I knew that the both of them had things to settle in Asgard, Thor and his duties and Loki and his daddy issues but I wasn't sure how either of those things was going to go. Loki would be severely punished and I had no clue how they handled prisoners there. Was torture a thing? And how long would they be gone? Gosh, I may never actually see Loki again. I could be forty by the time Thor gets back.

"You're gonna protect him when you get back there, right?" I whispered over at Thor. Steve was behind us and I knew he had heard me because he clearly perked up at the sound of my voice.

"Do not worry for him, Charlotte," Thor responded in a quiet voice. Well, as quiet as Thor could ever be. "But Loki has done grave things to this realm, things he must pay for. He has done grave things to you." I bit my lip. "I will watch out for him but he may not be unscathed." The breath I'd been holding choked out.

"I know he deserves it but I don't want either of you gone. He just told me…"

"I heard him and those feelings will not change, not for my brother. _You _are the one who needs to figure out feelings." I knew he was right but I couldn't bring myself to respond. I just glanced at Steve and felt guilty.

Once back at headquarters, I followed the six of them into the building. For a second, I lifted my S.H.I.E.L.D. t-shirt to look at my stitches but dropped it just as fast. The sight of my own blood was never not going to disgust me and even though the wound wasn't severe, it sure wasn't pretty. "Are you still sure about this, Charlotte?" Clint asked. I narrowed my eyes.

"Absolutely," I responded, shrugging out of my jacket slowly. I glanced at my now exposed right arm. Bruises that almost spot on resembled finger marks were on my forearm, a result of Loki grabbing me before I fell to my death.

"What are you gonna get out of it?" asked Tony.

"I might never see him again, Tony, and he saved my life. I think I owe him a farewell." Thor looked grim and Steve only nodded. He had yet to say anything to me. "Where is he?"

"We'll take you to him," said Natasha, "but if you try anything, we won't hesitate."

"And here I thought everyone was done assuming that I'm an international terrorist." Tony choked back a laugh. "You can trust me but I really need to speak with him." I found that I couldn't even say Loki's name.

Natasha only nodded, still standing her ground, and I followed them through the underground alleys that made up S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Things were whirring and whizzing, obviously a result of what had happened when one of the serpentine Chitauri knocked the top part of our building down. Other agents were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, examining cameras and computers, checking miniscule damage to equipment. I even saw one person designing a way to repair the quinjet that had gone down with Steve, Natasha, and Clint inside. But my eyes fixed on the screen Maria Hill was staring at in the middle of the room. She was watching Loki.

We went through several more hallways, each one darker than the last, and I found myself wondering if I'd ever even been in this part of the facility before. Then we arrived in front of a dark metallic door. It resembled the one Steve had twisted off it's hinges so we could break into the storage room but I knew that this door could probably withstand a lot more than that. It was almost comical to look at the three locks that were securing that it was shut. I tilted back when I saw the hall light reflect on a window near the door. When I moved toward it, I recognized that we were in front of a high tech holding room. My breath sucked in when I looked through the glass.

I heard Clint fumbling with some keys but I stayed put. Loki looked terrible. He had always been pale but his skin seemed to be losing color by the minute and it almost looked like he was sweating. His green eyes had taken on some bluish quality that was incredibly unnatural and he was staring all over the room, like he was searching for the hidden cameras. His hands were cuffed with some sort of huge shackles and the chain between them was abnormally long. It was part of the Asgardian metal that Clint had referred to. But it wasn't the weirdest part. Loki was gagged, just like they'd told me, but it wasn't in the conventional way. Some sort of Asgardian metal had been made to completely cover his mouth and maybe secure on the back of his neck. I couldn't tell at this angle. At that moment, he snapped his head and faced the window, his hands flattening on the table in front of him, and I backed away. It was like he knew I was there.

I turned around and found myself facing another high tech holding room but this one held only a table… and the scepter. When my eyes connected with it, I felt like I'd never wanted to touch anything as badly as I wanted that spear. The blue at the end of it echoed the color eking into Loki's green eyes and it pulsed as I kept watching it. "Charlotte." Steve brought me out of my staring contest with the staff when he touched my arm. I turned back.

"Where's the cube?" I asked. Aside from the spear, the tesseract was the most important piece. I didn't doubt that it was secure.

"It's being placed in a container to help transport Loki and Thor back to Asgard," said Bruce. I nodded and crossed my arms to keep my hands from shaking.

"Am I authorized to be doing this?" Maybe that was something I should've thought of earlier but it only became worrisome when I saw that Maria had been watching Loki.

"Nobody's authorized to be doing this which is why it's a bad idea," said Natasha.

"Well, that answers that," I said, more to myself than to the group.

"We'll see if we can buy you some time anyway," said Steve. "He might offer up something we need to know," he said when he noticed the looks he was getting from Tony and Natasha. The fact that Steve was really the only one truly for this made me feel guilty all over again.

"You don't know how much I appreciate this," I said. My voice sounded bland and tired but I was being genuine. If this was the last time I got to see Loki, then at least, I got to speak with him. "Now before I go in, somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on with him. He looks sick. And why is he gagged?" The metal thing across his mouth reminded of one of the legends about Loki; how he was a silver tongue and tricked people with words so they sewed his mouth up. Maybe I'd answered my own question. But I didn't know how true that legend may be.

"My guess for why he looks sick is because he's scared," said Steve. That was probably true. Loki didn't want to go back to Asgard. He'd made that plain. But scared wasn't a word I'd ever thought of in conjunction with Loki. But even Thor said he was; that Loki was terrified when he woke up on Earth and clung to me because I was kind.

"I'm sure that has something to do with Bruce," said Tony, slyly while he nudged Bruce. It was no secret that the Hulk had done some damage to Loki. There was a cut across the bridge of his nose and a minor one on his bottom lip and when we'd found him, Loki was lying in a crater in the floor.

"He's been away from that scepter a pretty long time too," mentioned Natasha. "Didn't you say it was really related to the tesseract?"

"It was a theory but I guess it was true," I responded. "But that makes me think about that other alien, the one that lent him the army. Thanos, right?"

"God, I had forgotten about that," said Clint.

"Me too," said Steve.

"It is the tesseract he wishes for," said Thor. "It will be secure in Asgard and Loki will be as well."

"That doesn't mean he's not gonna attack us anyway," said Tony. "But whatever. We've never seen the guy and Loki only mentioned him once to get into Charlotte's good graces. How do we even know that he exists?"

"Why would you think he wouldn't?" I asked. "There was no reason for him to lie to me about that."

"There was really no reason for him to lie to you at all but he did it anyway."

"I'm not gonna argue with you. Just let me talk to him, okay?" Clint set to undoing the locks one at a time and I took a deep breath to calm myself down before entering. Loki jolted at the sound by the door and stared at it suspiciously. "Thanks again," I said as Clint gripped the door handle. I made eye contact with Steve before the door opened. Loki slid his chair back in a knee-jerk reaction when he saw what was behind the door, his eyes wide. I turned behind me, knowing it couldn't have been me who caused such a reaction, and saw that Bruce was standing slightly to my left and was the only other person besides myself who was visible. Tony tried to hold back a laugh and failed. It amused Tony to no end that Loki had had his ass handed to him by the Hulk.

I stepped inside the room slowly and heard the heavy door clang behind me. The room was sparse. In fact, the only furniture it had was the office table Loki had been sitting behind when he was looking through the one way mirror and the chair he was sitting on. Loki still had the back of his chair against the wall and seemed to want to scramble away from me. I put my hands up in a joking sort of manner before I finally spoke to him. "I'm not here to hurt you. Neither is Bruce," I said. "I'll be the only person who comes in." He visibly relaxed when I said the word 'only.' Was he scared of the other Avengers too right now? Maybe not, maybe he just wanted to be alone.

I slowly made my way towards him, my hands still slightly raised to show that I didn't mean him any harm. When I lowered my hands, he relaxed further. The fingers of my right hand traced the edge of the office table until I bent in front of him, resting on my knees. The table didn't fully block view of me from the window, I was certain, but that didn't really matter anyway. As I reached to ungag him, Loki jerked away from me. "Hey, calm down," I said quietly when I reached for him again. His eyes flashed dangerously at me, the hint of blue in them unnerving. Usually, it was me who was frightened when Loki was going to touch me, not the other way around.

I leaned forward, grimacing when my stitches stretched a little and his eyes softened. Well, maybe I should leave the mask on. I never realized how expressive his eyes were. I angled myself to make sure that my left side was babied and I leaned forward again while still crouching on my knees. My stomach grazed his legs and my chest rested on his lower abdomen while my hands reached beneath his hair to unfasten the metal gag. Loki stared at me the whole time, like I was doing something worth note, and when I clicked the mask, I saw his eyes widen. I pulled it away from his face slowly and rested back on my heels, throwing the metallic thing on the table beside us.

"Are you alright?" I asked, as he was bringing his hands up to touch his face. I tried to resist leaning forward again when his eyes fixed on me. I pressed my hand to one of his knees. His long fingers were tracing his lips like he'd forgotten they were there and I wondered how long he'd been gagged like that.

"I am… fine," he finally responded. His voice didn't sound as smooth as it normally did and I knew mine didn't either. My voice sounded choked out and tired and even bland; a far cry from the usual Southern charm I had. "Your side, how is it? I apologize for your arm." I looked at the bruises on my right arm again.

"You saved my life so it's fine and they sewed it up. I'll be alright," I said. "Do you feel okay?" I only asked because he looked sick and exhausted. Hell, maybe I did too, I wasn't sure. He slid one of his hands over mine and I felt the shocking cold of him mixed with the cold of that metal. I hadn't felt anything from it, not like I had from the spear or Thor's hammer. It was just staggeringly cold.

"I know I have looked better," Loki said. I wanted to say, 'Oh, that's not what I meant,' but it was. He looked feverish and I couldn't get over that his eyes might be changing color.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, phrasing the question differently a third time. He seemed wont to give me a straight answer. Loki looked toward the window, which appeared like a mirror to us, before he turned back to me. Clearly, the Hulk had really unnerved him.

"I am not in physical pain, no." My lips pressed together and I gripped his leg with my hand.

"I don't have long to be with you right now," I said. I knew it sounded desperate and I obviously must've looked it because Loki's lips parted and his eyes softened again. "Thor said you're leaving tomorrow." Loki nodded and I bent my head, getting choked up. "Will they hurt you there?"

"I do not know." His voice was close to breaking and I knew he was terrified, just like they'd said.

"Thor will make sure they don't. I asked him." I had looked back up and Loki only stared at me. Thor couldn't spare him from punishment. "I'll never see you again, will I?" Loki's eyes glimmered and I forgot about everything he'd done to Earth and done to me and done to Thor. Right here in this holding room, he was the most vulnerable I'd ever seen him and somehow, that eclipsed everything else.

"You may not, I will not lie to you," he said quietly as his hand let go of mine. I gulped before trying to say anything else.

"Well, if it is, then you ought to know that what you said to me on the balcony when you saved me, I feel that way too and I wish I could've stopped you from doing all this." I slid my hand up his leg farther, as he openly stared at me, and I leaned closer.

"Are they watching us?" Loki asked, his eyes moving from me to the window.

"I don't care," I said back desperately. Loki breathed out as he placed his hands to my face and slid to the floor in front of me. The chain linking his cuffs clinked as he engulfed me in a hold, pressing me close to him. I wrapped my arms around him and began to cry, no longer able to hold back all of the emotions of the day. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm so sorry," I muttered. He pushed me back only to put to his hands to my face. He shook his head at me, his eyes wet.

"It is I who should apologize to you. You took me in and you took care of me when I needed it most. I do not deserve what you have given me and I am genuinely sorry that I repaid your kindness with cruelty."

"No, I forgive you," I responded. Loki's expression changed before he responded.

"You said you do not have much time. I want to warn you of Thanos. Charlotte, do not take me lightly. You need to be safe. I did not conquer Earth as I wished and I do not have the tesseract. I promise you that he will come because he promised pain, he promised to hunt me down should I run. He will come here and he may come for you. You need to protect yourself. You need to stay with someone you trust. There is no hope for me concerning him."

"Why are you scared of him?" I asked.

"He is incredibly powerful. You would do well to be as scared of him as I am."

"What did he do to you?" Loki didn't make a face for me, nor did he seem to show any emotion.

"You have to trust me." I heard the door open behind us and I clutched Loki again and he buried his head in my neck. He pressed his lips to my skin once and pulled away from me. I left the room while Clint went to gag Loki once more.

My hands were shaking by the time I saw that only Steve was left along with Phil and Fury but I didn't show it. I raised my hands playfully and muttered, "If you're here to arrest me, then get it the hell over with." Fury only shook his head at me. "Then can we talk about this later? 'Cause I really don't wanna see anyone right now." Clint started locking the door after I heard it clang shut and pretended not to be listening.

"Kent, you need to start taking me and my orders seriously," said Director Fury. "You'll never be a good field agent with this attitude. This has to happen, as I'm sure you understand."

"I'm sorry; did you say a field agent?" Steve finally moved from the wall he'd been leaning against and he looked as confused as I felt.

"Agent Barton told us about your curiosity for training," said Phil, "and we know you have excelled in the field work thus far." I forced a laugh.

"That's different and you know it. It's a dream for someone like me to become a field agent. Why would you offer me that?" I found it curious that after all of their predispositions about me since the earlier incidents with Loki, they now considered me on par with Natasha and Clint. What had I done to earn that? Before meeting Loki and losing the important parts of my job, I'd really been a glorified secretary. With Steve, I'd been nothing more than some sort of an elementary school teacher. Sure, I'd been really trusted and I knew everything about the agents there but I'd never dreamed they'd want me to do field work.

"After the training, Agent Kent, you'll be more than qualified for it," said Fury. I glanced at Steve in disbelief. Could the two of us work together? Could we be a team?

"I, uh, I'll certainly take it seriously," I said. At any rate, training would distract me from Thor and Loki not being around and Steve being on random assignments.

"But I'll need to have a serious talk-through with you later. There are clearly some ground rules that need to be set and there are some things you probably ought to know." I nodded at Fury savagely. I wouldn't do anything to sabotage this. I'd never actually had my sights set on being a field agent but the fact that they trusted me enough to become one was phenomenal. "The only thing I'll tell you now is that you need to learn to not trust people who are in desperate situations." My lips parted a bit and I'm certain my eyes narrowed but Fury and Phil walked off before anything else could be said.

"He has some sort of audacity to tell me who I need to be trusting," I said.

"He's right, Charlotte," said Steve. Clint nodded as well.

"I told you not to listen to a word Loki said," said Clint. My mouth formed an 'o' in disbelief.

"So you're not even slightly worried that we could have another alien invasion on our hands?" I asked.

"He was desperate, Charlotte."

"He was probably trying to say anything he could to get out of returning to Asgard," said Steve. I had to admit that that could be a possibility but it was a severely slim one. The way he'd told me hadn't been him saying that we needed him on Earth to stop this. He just told me to protect myself.

"Whatever, it's seriously whatever," I responded, sounding almost bored with the conversation. "Can we just go to the barracks? I just need to go to bed." Steve only nodded and the three of us walked back the way we came, away from Loki and away from the glowing staff.

Everyone was staying at the barracks at least for the next couple of nights. Tony estimated that we'd be able to move into his building within the week because Pepper had immediately gotten people to start repairs and decorate guest rooms. I could only imagine what life would be like living with the science bros, as I liked to call Bruce and Tony. Bruce had really taken to Tony because Tony would joke with him. Everyone else seemed to walk on eggshells around him.

I collapsed onto the hard twin bed that was the bottom bunk to Natasha's top one. I shrugged openly. She and Clint would basically be living here when they weren't out on missions. How incredibly uncomfortable. I heard Thor moving in the bunk next door. No doubt, he was having trouble fitting onto the bed. It's not like he would sleep anyway. I knew I wouldn't be able to.

Laying down in the dark almost immediately made me succumb to crying again. I hated crying. I thought it was a sign of weakness but lately, I'd done it a lot. Staring at the bed above me, I silently vowed that I would give myself tonight to cry about it. From then on, I'd focus on anything else to keep my mind away from it. Easier said than done. Luckily, Steve would probably only be gone two weeks at the most. Assignments didn't take longer than that, did they?

I covered my face with my hands and smothered a groan before it escaped. Tomorrow morning the Avengers were escorting Thor and Loki to Central Park with the cube so that they could travel back to Asgard. I'd been invited along out of some sort of courtesy. I tossed in bed after remembering that and tried not to sob. Loki did deserve punishment. I wasn't denying that. But I was seriously hoping that he might be redeemed, that he could repair his damaged relationship with Thor. Maybe going to Asgard for punishment would bring him closer to Thor. That had to be what Thor was hoping for. I guess what my only problem with it was that Loki and Thor wouldn't be around and may not return for years, in Thor's case. Maybe never in Loki's.

After tossing around for what felt like hours, I fell into some semblance of sleep. It was after 9am when Steve roused me and handed me one of my favorite granola bars for breakfast. I had to give him a smile for that. Steve was nothing if not attentive to detail. I slowly got dressed in jeans and another S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt after rubbing some salve over my stitches. I fastened the watch Tony had given me to my wrist and arrived at the door out around the same time everyone else did. Loki and Thor were evidently already in their own vehicle and on the way so I rode with Steve on the back of his motorcycle while Clint and Natasha got their own car and Tony drove himself and Bruce in a convertible. I had grown to really adore motorcycles since my time driving one. Tony had even begun to kid me about getting one for myself.

Once there, Steve and I waited on the others to arrive. I pulled my cargo jacket tighter around me when Bruce and Tony pulled up. Steve said nothing even when Clint and Natasha were standing with us. I knew he was going to miss Thor and he left on his job in less than two days. I openly gulped when I saw Thor trudging up, Loki on his left side. Loki's hands were still cuffed with that long chain in between them and his mouth was again gagged with metal. Thor was carrying a glass container with turns on either end and the cube securely in the middle. It was glowing brightly, ready to be used.

Once we sort of gathered around them, Thor moved to say goodbye to each of us. I pretended not to notice how Loki's eyes dangerously flashed between all of us, all evidence of the fear he had yesterday gone. He wasn't someone who was about to go into submission. He almost looked like he still had something planned.

I moved forward after Thor had clapped Steve on the back and then embraced him as though they'd been friends for years. I hugged Thor close and felt myself come close to tears again. When Thor moved back, he touched our foreheads together like he had during the battle. With a surly hand on my neck, he said, "I cannot thank you enough for everything. You will always have a friend in myself, Charlotte Kent. And to be sure, Heimdall will always keep one eye on you." I grinned at him.

"I guess that's incentive for me to behave," I responded.

"Perhaps the next time I return, you will teach me to drive." I remembered when he'd asked me to teach him back when we went shopping downtown.

"Absolutely," I said over Tony's raucous disapproval. Thor nudged my head playfully before kissing my forehead.

"Take care of Jane."

"You can count on it." With that he finally moved away and I saw that Loki had been staring at us the whole time, probably grimacing if we could see beneath the mask. When I stood back beside Steve, I found myself wanting to cry again. I'd grown incredibly close to Thor in a short amount of time; not to mention the way things had happened with Loki. Between both of them being gone and Steve set to leave in a couple of days, I might have a mental breakdown.

Thor gripped the edge of the container with the tesseract inside and held the other end toward Loki. His green eyes seemed to lose their edge for a second, as he took in a last view of Central Park and then looked in my direction. My fingers were tracing my chin anxiously while my other arm crossed my abdomen. My lips quivered fast and I gave Loki a solid nod. He nodded back then took his end of the container and twisted. A blue light consumed the two of them and then it shot up toward the sky, leaving no trace that they'd ever even been there.

My fingers covered my full lips while they quivered again. "We'll, uh, we'll meet you back at the facility," said Clint. He and Natasha left and after Bruce prodded Tony for a second, the both of them started going back to the car. I turned to Steve immediately.

"We can go, I'm sorry," I said. "I was just sorta letting it sink in."

"No, I, uh, I was doing the same thing," he responded. When I looked up at him, I realized that maybe there was something else going on. "And I'm leaving tomorrow so it might very well be my last look at Central Park for a while."

"Oh, of course," I said. "Where are you going? When will you be back?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I was under the impression it would be something quick though, since they're not sending Clint or Natasha with me."

"Or they know you can handle it on your own." His expression softened then and I turned away. Tomorrow was way too soon. He'd barely relaxed from the Chitauri and now he was being sent off to do God knows what. "I don't want you to leave, not so soon after all this. Who's gonna help me with the press conferences?" I meagerly laughed.

"You do well enough on your own, as I see it." I gulped again.

"Well, if I don't get a chance with you alone again before you go, I just want you to know that I'm really, really sorry and I can't apologize enough for… for everything. I'm so confused and I know I had to have confused you." Steve grabbed my forearm and made me face him.

"We can talk about that when I get back. We'll have the time for it then and you need proper time to get over everything with him. I know I did." He had needed tons of time after waking up in this century. He needed to get over Peggy and all of the friends he'd lost. He'd been bitter and harrowed. Was that the way I was going to be now? "I got through it because I had you and you never gave me a full moment alone for months. I needed that." That was true but it had been my job.

"Yeah but you're not gonna be here to do that favor for me." He shook his head at me and some of his blonde hair fell loose from its hold.

"You don't need me to do that for you, Charlotte. Besides, Thor is right. Maybe being by yourself is what you need right now, to figure everything out." I nodded at him again, my eyes welling with tears.

"God, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to go on top of everything else. I knew all of this had to happen but it's still awful." Steve pulled me into an embrace and placed of his hand on the back of my head. I felt the tears begin to fall and I felt like I might be sick.

"You'll be fine," he said quietly. "You will be fine." When he kissed the top of my head, I barely felt it.

When we arrived back at S.H.I.E.L.D., I grabbed Steve before we went our separate ways when I had my meeting with Fury and Phil. "Hey, just promise me you'll be careful," I said, my voice sounding tired. He gave me a half smile.

"I promise I'll be careful." He sounded almost playful about it.

"I'm serious, Steve."

"So am I. You better be too. If Clint lets you shoot yourself with an arrow again…"

"That wasn't my fault," I said, somewhat laughing. "And you better not leave that vibranium shield here for any misguided reasons like you did that once." It was his turn to laugh.

"As I recall, it saved your life."

"You're right, it did and I never thanked you properly for it."

"You didn't have to." I heard someone behind me and I closed my eyes. "Seems like you're late for your meeting."

"I guess so. Good luck." I hugged him again and I tried to suck some of the warmth he always had into my skin. I felt like I wanted to say something else but I didn't know what that might be. As I watched him walk away, I felt my heart sink. When I turned back, Maria was there to escort me to the meeting room.

I rubbed my eyes as if I needed to stop being tired and I followed Maria silently. When I walked in and sat at the table, I leaned my head on my hand and waited for some imminent lecture. "Agent Kent," began Fury. I raised my eyebrows in anticipation, "I need to know if you would take training as seriously as you would have me believe. I'm not wasting the time and effort on you if you're just going to give up in two weeks."

"Well, Director Fury," I responded, "I'd be more than willing to give it a shot and yes, I am being incredibly serious. I was in over my head the last two times I was in the field and I was almost killed more times than I can count. The Asgardians aren't the only people out there, I'm sure you know that by now." He made a face, probably remembering when the Avengers had confronted him about Phase 2.

"I'm glad to see you're onboard with it. Agents Barton and Romanov should be able to help you in their own time and you're to get started on it immediately. That's an order, Kent, and one that I don't mean for you to take lightly. It's going to be exhausting and hard and more than likely, you'll come back with more injuries than you've had before. The stitches on your abdomen won't be the worst wounds you attain while being a field agent."

"Agent Barton will assess your strengths and weaknesses over time," said Phil. "You're never going to be a physical powerhouse so don't get your hopes up there but you are a phenomenal shot and that's what's got us interested in training you."

"A lot of people are good shots," I responded. "It still doesn't make sense that you would want me to go out on missions. Last I heard, you don't trust me. Why would you want someone like me being an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.? I know you didn't swipe my record. I guess what I want is for you to clear that up." I shrugged back into my chair and waited for a response.

"You've more than proved yourself, Kent," said Fury, "and possibly, we were a little too harsh on you once you'd shown whose side you were on. You didn't have to go out in the field either time. You didn't have to interrogate Loki. But you did all that and more and that shows me that you're a worthy agent. If you want your old desk job back, you're more than welcome to it. We just thought you might want to do something more." I nodded, taking it all in. It was rare that Fury had ever given me a compliment before, especially not one that really flattered me like that.

"And I'm sorry to say it, Charlotte, but we're not swiping your record," said Phil.

"Well, I can live with that as long as neither you nor anybody else is taking me to jail," I said. "But I more than appreciate the comments, Director. When do I start?"

"As soon as you're well enough not to tear the stitches," said Fury. "Your medical bills have taken just about all of our funds." He gruffly laughed and I found myself smiling too. "There's just one thing that you need to understand about this, Kent. Your emotions cannot get in the way of your job. The people we send you up against will not hesitate to hunt down someone you care for and even if you think they're more than capable to handle it, you never really know for sure. Some of our other agents have learned that the hard way, as I'm sure you read in their files. Your emotions can be used against you in incredibly crafty ways. You don't need to be going up against an alien to be sabotaged that way."

"So what's the lesson here, sir?" I asked.

"One line will serve you the way it's served Romanov and Barton over the years. 'Love is for children.'"

**Gosh, I cannot believe this fic is over. I've been writing it since November of last year and so many of you have stuck with it since that time. I really appreciate every bit of support I've gotten. I am going to write a sequel so keep your eyes out for that because I think it'll be sooner rather than later that I publish it (I've already got some stuff in my mind). So let me know what you would think about that and just let me know what you think in general! I know the ending's ambiguous but I wanted it to be cos of the sequel. I just really hope that you've enjoyed this story as much as I've loved writing it.**

**Edit: The sequel is up! So if you haven't seen it yet, it's Right Partner and you can just go right on my page to find it! I hope it gets the support that this fic has continued to get.**


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